Shattered Mirror
by Rushisu
Summary: Discontinued...
1. Mirror Image

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 1. Mirror Image

I felt like writing Tales of the Abyss fic so here I am. However I must say that I don't even own the game. Why? Because they never released it to Europe! I'm so mad because of that!

Well... This is AU fic...

**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss! It belongs to Namco!**

**Pairings:** AschLuke

**Warnings: **Shounen-ai (BoyBoy), implied lemon (?)

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"_You're not my son."_

-Duke Fon Fabre

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His son was dead. Duke Fon Fabre's son was dead. The boy, Luke was only ten years old. Somebody kidnapped him. Duke Fon Fabre tried to do everything but it didn't help. His wife was depressed and really sick. If Duke wouldn't do anything she would die. He didn't want to lose everybody who he loved. So he didn't have any other choice.

"Master! Come quickly! I think that we have successes!" A scientist shouted to him. Duke turned to look at the scientist. What did he said?! Was there still some hope to bring his son back to life?

They both ran to the exam room. There were many scientists and they all looked very excited. And all of them looked at the plastic tube which was in the middle of the room. Duke's eyes widened when he saw who was lying in the tube.

His son.

But when he walked closer to the tube he noticed some differences. The boy who lied in the tube had a warmer looking hair. And its hair was lighter at the end.

"It tries to open its eyes!" Somebody yelled. It was true. The boy's eyes started to open ad revealed emeralds eyes. But now Duke was sure that the boy wasn't his son.

_His_ Luke's eyes were smart and mature. Almost like an adult's. But this...this _replica's _eye's showed curiously and were very childish. And then the replica made an huge mistake.

He smiled a big, childish smile. And that was something which his son hadn't done ever.

Duke couldn't look at the replica. But he had to do it for his wife's sake. He turned to look at the scientist.

"When can I take him?" Duke asked.

"We must make some tests first. Two weeks perhaps?" The scientist answered.

"I understand. Tell me if there'll be something alarming." Duke started to leave. But when he was on the door he turned around and glared his son's replica for the last time.

"I only do this to my wife's sake. But understand this, okay." He took a little pause.

"You're not my son."

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Oh my what have I done? So Duke is meanie now? And this was so short....Sorry!

It might take some time till I'll update this....

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_


	2. Father's Love

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 2. Father's love

I felt so bad because the first chapter was so short so I write this.... Now it's a little bit longer but not so interesting...

Thanks to all who review!

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss! I don't even have the copy!**

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"_Well... He is your father and father's suppose to love their children. So I think that deep inside he loves you. After all, you **are **his son!"_

-Guy Cecil

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It has been seven years since Luke Fon Fabre came back to his home. But unfortunately he didn't have any memories about life before the kidnapping. And he had to learn every basic things like walking and talking. But after a year of learning he was like a normal eight-years-old boy. But the old Luke wasn't like that. The old Luke wasn't childish and energy kid. He was like an adult. But everybody thought that it was because the kidnapping and didn't think about it. Somebody even thought that it was good thing that he had changed. Luke's mother was feeling much better but still she was weak.

The other person who had change was Luke's father. Before the kidnapped he was kind and cheery father to his son. But then... He never spoke to his son. Only if his wife begged him to. He wasn't the same anymore. But nobody didn't dare to ask what was wrong. Not even his wife. Luke didn't care about that. He got use to it. But sometimes it bothered him.

Like today.

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Luke sat on a bench and watched how maids were cleaning windows and statues. He had to think. He turned around and saw Guy behind of him.

"Hi!" Guy smiled and sat next to Luke. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Not good..." Luke sighed. "Let me guess... Your father?" Guy asked.

Luke nodded. "Today at the dining hall he just... Was like I wasn't there... It starts to annoying me! And I don't know why he is acting like this! He must hate me..." Guy put his hand to Luke's shoulder and smiled.

"Don't worry. He don't hate you."

"How can you be so sure about that?" Luke asked.

"Well... He is your father and father's suppose to love their children. So I think that deep inside he loves you. After all, you _are_ his son!" Guy explained. He saw that Luke still doubted him.

"Sorry but... I have to go now. See ya!" Guy got up and walked to the mansion. Luke smiled cheerfully but when Guy wasn't around anymore he sighed sadly.

"Yeah... I believe that too but... Why he hadn't smiled ever when I am around? What I have done? I am his son, dammit!" He shouted to the sky.

"But Luke... Your father is a busy man!" Again, someone said to him behind of him. Luke startled and turned around to look at his master's face.

"Master Van?!" He shouted surprisingly. Van grinned to his face.

"Hello Luke. So would you tell to me why did you yell to the sky about your problems with your father?" Van asked.

"It's... Umm... Nothing. So master would you practice with me? I have become way much stronger than the last time!" Luke switched the topic. Van looked like he understood that.

"Sure, why not! Show your skills!" Van said and took his sword.

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"Oh my... You sure had practiced a lot!" Van said. Luke smiled his I-told-you-so smile. They were at the garden and the maids were watching them. Van sighed and put his sword to its scabbard.

"Luke... How about if I'll ask a permission that I could take you to a forest which is near here. Would you want to go there?" Van asked. It took a moment until Luke understood what Van had said. Master wanted to go into the forest with... Luke? Van knew the rules. He knew that Luke wouldn't go to the forest.

"Really?" Luke asked. "Yeah, why not? You are always complaining how you haven't been outside of the mansion! Or don't you want to go?" Van asked.

"W-What? N-No I want to go with you! I'd love to go with you! I can't wait!" Luke shuttered. Van laughed heartily and ruffled Luke's red hair.

"Okay. Wait here!"

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"Guess what?" Van asked when he came. "...Mom didn't let me go..." Luke sighed but Van shook his head.

"Nope. You got a permission!"

"WHAT! I DID!?" Luke shouted so loud that everybody in the garden turned to look at Luke who blushed.

"I... Umm... How?" He asked.

"I just told that if you want to get stronger you must train somewhere else. And your mother gave me the permission." Van explained.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go master!" Luke nearly yelled. This was the luckiest day of his life.

But how wrong he was.

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And here it was! The second chapter! Nothing interesting but I promise that in the next chapter the plot will starts to move. But I have some problems. I have no idea about cities, forests and mountains in Tales of the Abyss... I don't know their locations on the world map....

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_

**Rag Doll-Kun:** Quickly or he will kill me if he found this!


	3. Misunderstanding

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 3. Misunderstanding

I can't stop writing this! I can't wait till I can start writing the angst parts... Must...torture Luke.... My sadistic side is almost awaken...

And I am making a collab with my friend Shihoka! It's a school fic and the pairings are AschLuke and GuyJade!

Well umm...Try to enjoy okay...

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_GO! And never come back!" _

-Duke Fon Fabre

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"Luke watch out!" Van yelled to his young student. Luke looked behind of him and killed a wild board just before it was ready to bite him. It was almost dark. Van rushed to his student.

"Luke are you okay?!" He asked worriedly. He asked but Van shook his head.

"Sorry Luke but we can't. There are more powerful enemies than here and you don't have any strength left. I think that we have to go back to the mansion." Luke groaned to protest.

"Heh. Sorry Luke but we must go now." Van smiled. Finally Luke got up. They started to walk to the mansion.

"You know... You sure have trained a lot! Maybe I could take you with me when I am traveling!" Luke turned to look at him.

"Seriously?!" He asked but Van just nodded. Luke jumped in front of him and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you so much Master Van!"

"No problem. I just have to ask- Hey what is _that_?!" Suddenly Van shouted and pointed direction of the mansion. Luke turned to look at the path which headed to the mansion. There was a person. Even thought it was already dark Luke could tell who it was.

His mother.

"Mom!" Luke shouted. He and Van rushed to her. The Duchess fell to the ground.

"Mom, are you okay?!" Luke shouted. Van checked her pulse but the Duchess grab on Luke's shirt.

"Luke... Your father... He's.... You must hurry!" She said weakly and fainted.

"Luke you must go to the mansion! I'll go and find some help! Don't worry I'll take care of your mother! GO!" Van shouted. Luke nodded and ran to the mansion.

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Fire. The whole mansion was on fire.

The maids shouted orders to each other and everybody were trying to stop the fire. But Luke was just standing. He feared so much that the fear has paralyzed him. He had always hated and feared fire. Sometimes he even started to hyperventilate.

"Luke!" Someone shouted. Luke turned to look at the direction were the voice had come. He saw Guy who was running to him.

"Luke, are you okay?!" Guy asked worriedly. "Y-Yeah..." Luke answered.

"B-But what the hell had happened here?!" He shouted. "We don't know! One maid noticed the smoke and saw that the dining room was on fire!"

"W-What?! Who the hell have done this....? Wait, were is my father? Have you seen him?" Luke asked.

"Last time when I saw him was couple minutes before the fire.... And nobody hadn't seen him. Luke, I am sorry..." Guy muttered and didn't dare to look at Luke.

"N-No..."

Guy and Luke turned around and saw Duchess who stared at the mansion.

"M-Mom...?" Luke shuttered. Why she was here? Where was Van? Many questions were in his head but he forgot all of them when his mother started to run to the flaming mansion.

"M-MOM NO!" Luke yelled but it was too late. He tried to run after her but Guy hold him back.

"Luke it's too late. But there maybe some hope left. Maybe she will come back!" Guy tried to comfort him.

"Who come back?" A deep manly voice asked behind of them. Luke and Guy got the shock of their lives when they turned around to see the Duke's face.

"F-F-Father....?" Luke asked but the Duke didn't even look at him.

"You can tell who." The Duke said to Guy.

"Umm...Sir, your wife... She's..." And Guy started to explain. And when he ended his story Duke's face was pale and he was almost in shock. He ordered a couple of maids to come to him.

"You must go to the mansion! My wife is in there! This is an orde-" He was interrupted by an huge crack.

And everybody could only watch how roof of the mansion collapsed.

"No... This is not true...." The Duke could only said.

"MOM!" Luke shouted and fought back the tears. They both rushed to ruins of the mansion. Everybody followed them.

But it was already too late.

"This can't be happening...." The Duke shuttered.

The servants started to search Duchess' body. At the same time Luke and the Duke sat silently on a bench. Then finally one butler came to them.

"W-Well... Did you find her?" The Duke asked. The butler nodded.

"Is she...?" Luke asked. The butler nodded sadly.

"I am so sorry Luke..." Guy apologized. But the one who cried wasn't Luke. The Duke fell on his knees and let the tears go.

"Father..." Luke whispered and tried to touch Duke's shoulder but the Duke slapped it away.

"This... This is your fault." The Duke got up and look at Luke.

"She is dead because of you. You killed her! You killed your own mother!"

"N-No sir! It wasn't Luke! She heard when I told Luke that-" Guy tried to explain.

"Silence! Tell me ,son why did you kill her? She loved you and cared about you... And then you killed her! Your own mother!"

"Sir please stop!" Guy yelled. He was worried about Luke's mental health.

"Didn't you heard me? SILENCE! And you..." The Duke turned back to look at Luke. "Well... What are you waiting for? Tell me! Why did you kill her?!"

"F-Father...I-" Luke whispered but the Duke punched him on his face.

"Have you forgot what I said to you! You're not my son! You are only here because of your mother! And look. She's dead! Now I don't have any reasons to keep you here..."

"Sir what on earth-" One butler tried to ask.

"GO! And never come back!" The Duke shouted.

And all what Luke could do was run. He ran into the forest. His father was right. He killed her.

He was a murderer. And a coward who just ran.

"Oh my. You are fast!" Somebody whispered. And before Luke could do anything the stranger punched him so hard that he fainted. But before he fainted something came to his head.

For seven years his father hadn't spoke with him voluntarily. And when he does speak with Luke he orders him to go away. Luke always thought that his father didn't like to show his feelings. But he was so wrong.

He never cried on that day.

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The end was just something random.... The Duke's words are very similar from my other story... I shall update it someday. Someday....

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_

I won't update if I don't get at least 3 reviews!


	4. Dusty Room

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 4. Dusty Room

...Only two review... Well anyway I updated because I am such a nice person! And I can't stop! -sigh-

And I am sorry if the god-generals are too OOC....

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss**

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"_Asch!? Is that you? You have dyed your hair! You look pretty cool now."_

Sync the Tempest

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The first thing that Luke noticed was the darkness. He was awake but he didn't open his eyes.

"_Maybe it was just a bad dream... Maybe I am at the mansion and soon Guy will wake me up and everything is just fine..."_ He thought and opened his eyes hopefully.

First he didn't see anything but when his eyes got use to the darkness he saw that he wasn't at his room.

The room was small and old. There were no windows and the place was dusty. Luke noticed that he was lying on an old bed. He stood up and went to the door. Luke's hands felt heavy and he looked at his hands. They were chained with a heavy shackles. He still tried to open the door . But the door was tightly shut. Luke cursed his luck and went back to the bed. He started to study the room with his eyes. Like he already noticed it was small and dusty. Like nobody haven't been in the room for a year. There was not many furnitures. Only the bed, a cabinet, a small table and a mirror in the corner. On the table were many kind of swords and books.

"Were... Am I?" Luke wondered to himself. He walked to the table and took one book. It told about sword skills and Luke found it very interesting. He read it for a some time until he heard voices behind of the door.

"Is he here?" a woman's voice asked. The door opened and a person entered to the room.

The person was a woman with a blond hair. Her icy blue eyes studied Luke's face.

"There is no mistake. They really are like reflections." She said. Luke turned to look at the door and saw how an another person entered to the room.

This time it was a man. An _huge_ man. Looked like a gorilla. He had a silver hair and beard. He frozen when he saw Luke.

"They really are..." He said. Luke was starting to get annoyed.

"Who are you talking abou-?"

"Asch? Is that you? You have dyed your hair! You look pretty cool now!" A teen aged boy with a weird mask came to the room. The woman shot a dead glare to him.

"Sync, shut up!" She said. The boy called as Sync humped.

"So this isn't Asch... So then he must be his r-"

"Sync, _shut up_!" The man replied. "Fine fine, sheesh!" Sync muttered. Even thought he had a mask on his face Luke could tell that he was watching him.

"Anyway, isn't this room little bit dusty? He should clean this mess!" Sync changed the topic.

"He has been on a mission the last year! Of course it's dusty!" The woman said and was starting to get angry.

"Sorry Legretta..." Sync sighed.

"Anyway Sync, did you inform _him_ that you caught the boy?" The huge man asked. Sync humped.

"Yeah... He let me do all the work! I had to caught the boy and burn the ma-"

"DIDN'T I SAID SHUT UP!" Legretta yelled angrily. Lucky to her that Luke didn't heard the last sentence.

"What are you talking abou-" Luke tried to ask but someone was faster that he was.

"What are you guys doing in my room?" A cold voice behind Luke asked angrily. Luke turned around and froze. His eyes widened when he saw a familiar face. He had seen it many times.

His reflection.

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It was short.... WHY I CAN'T MAKE LONG CHAPTERS? WHY?

I am sorry that Sync was kinda OOC but I had to do it... Sorry.

I sound like Colette from Tales of Symphonia...

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_

And me too!


	5. Thief

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 5. Thief

Lol, at art class we printed shirts. We had to print some character who is our 'hero'. I made a shirt were is Mithos Yggdrasill's (Tales of Symphonia) picture and a text which reads _'Fear the Disco King'!_ And I got a 10! (10 is the highest grade which you can get in Finland and 4 is lowest.) Though I don't like its colors... Mithos' wings are red! No pink. RED! And his costume is... Dark blue... Shoot me!

And please people... I need more reviews... Accident prone is the only one who have strength to write comments to every chapter! And that's why she/he can have a big cookie! Linkcankillganon and Stitch Phantom can have too! Here ya go!

So people if you want me to update sooner then leave review! But no flamers, thank you.

I think that I just chased a couple of readers just now... Just my luck....

Well... anyway to the story....

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_You stole everything from me!"_

_Asch the Bloody_

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_He stood behind of a tree. He watched how his mother hugged a red-haired boy. He knew who that boy was. His master has told him who he was. First he didn't believe his master but now he was sure. He felt how anger and sadness grew in his body. **He** should be the one who was hugging his mother.** He** should be the one who were studying at a school. But he wasn't. It was that... Replica. This all was the replica's fault. He took everything from him. It was a thief. This all wasn't his father's fault. No. _

"_Do you understand now...? They don't need you. They left you alone in the world. But don't worry. I am here for you. You don't need them. You said that you want to get stronger. I can get that to you. Do you want me to get it to you, Luke?" His master asked. Luke shook his head._

"_My name is no longer Luke Fon Fabre. For now on call me as... Asch." Asch said. His master smirked._

"_Very well, Asch." He said. "Shall we go?" _

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Asch froze. His eyes widened. He remembered the day when he became Asch the Bloody. The other god-generals watched his reaction. There was a death silence.

"We must go now. Good to have you back Asch." Lergetta said and walked to the door. Sync opened his mouth to protest but followed her. _"Just when things were starting to get interesting..."_ He thought. The huge man was the last one and he closed the door.

"Who are _you_!?" The boy, his replica on Asch's bed asked. Asch only glared at him. He studied the boy. The same face and eyes. They both have long hair but the boy has a lighter hair.

"Didn't you hear me? Who are you? Why do you look just like me? Were the hell am I? Who were those guys? And what happened t-"

"Shut up!" Asch shouted angrily. He tossed his sword to the table. This was too much to him. He rushed to the bed and and punched the replica. He hit the replica many times. The replica whimpered in pain. His nose was broken and he had bruises on his face. But Asch didn't care. He wanted to kill this thief who took everything from him.

"You don't need to know who I am! But I know who you are. You're a thief! You stole everything from me!" He whispered. He was blinded by his own rage. He continued punching the replica. But the replica was weak. He fainted on Asch's bed. Asch tried to think what he could do with him. He saw his sword on his table. He walked to the table and took the sword. This mess wasn't his father's fault. This was all the replica's fault. He raised his sword and targeted the replica's neck. He swung the sword.

But somebody blocked the hit. An another sword came between his sword and the replica's neck. Asch turned to look at his old sword teacher.

"Don't do it Asch!" Van warned.

"Why?! He is me! I can decide what I can do with my body! Now move your sword!" Asch almost shouted but Van shook his head.

"No I won't. Can't you understand that we can use him? He can be your human shield on missions! Think Asch! He can be your puppet. And if he dies nobody wouldn't miss him. Or care. A personal slave. He could make himself useful... I taught him like I did to you. And if he isn't useful you can kill him. Anyway you want. How does that sound?" Van asked.

"Whatever." Asch whispered. He tossed his sword on the ground.

"Anyway, why did you come here? I don't think that you thought that I would kill my replica!" Asch asked.

"Nope. I have a mission for you. I need you to go Mt. Roneal. There is something that I need..."

"And what that would be...?" Asch asked.

"I'll tell the details next week. You must be tired. Toss that replica from your bed and try to get some sleep. I think that this mission would be a good test to your new... Slave." Van smirked and left the room.

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I am sorry if there is mistakes...Sorry!

...Again, it was short....I'll try to write longer next time ,okay? I'll try... I won't update until the next chapter have more that 1,500 words.... Might take some time... Or not if you leave reviews! -Glares at people-

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY**_


	6. Truth

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 6. Truth

Omg, It's already sixth chapter! I update way too often... Here is longer chapter now... Well it's not so long but... I suck writing battle scenes... Sorry...

MY SUMMER VACATION STARTED TODAY!!! I am so happy! Finally! So now I can update sooner. Yay!

Yay, I got more reviews! Thanks to Accident Prone (Like always), FlyXHigh (Your comment made me blush...), Dreamstar13 (Thanks from telling those errors!) and LatyfeSurLeSora (You made my day!)

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_Why... Why did you save me...?"_

_-Asch the Bloody_

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"So tell me about your mission." Asch ordered week later.

"I think that you know about Sync... Right?" Van asked. Asch nodded his head. Of course Asch knew. Sync the Tempest was a replica too. Some crazy old man copied his dead son seven times and all of them were failures. So man tried to kill them. But two of them survived. Other one was Sync and Asch didn't know nothing about the other replica. And there was rumor that someone else survived too...

"I know the location of the other replica." Van said.

"Let me guess... Mt. Roneal?" Asch asked and Van nodded his head.

"Yup. It seems like he ran away from his foster parents. He is heading to Mt. Roneal. But he isn't a fighter and Mt. Roneal is full of monsters. So I need you to take that kid out of there."

"When I must go there?"

"You have three days."

"And will I go alone?"

"No. I'll send Legretta with you. It wouldn't be good if Sync would go with you. And of course... Your little replica would be a good extra too." Van smirked. Asch humphed and left Van's room.

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Luke woke up when Asch slammed the door. His back was killing him. He had slept on a ground the whole week. Without a pillow. And the room was so fucking cold. Asch entered the room and shot a death glare at Luke. He had done it every time when he had seen Luke so he had got used to it. And after a week Luke had learned one thing about Asch.

Asch didn't hate him. No, Asch wanted to kill him. He wanted to torture Luke until he would die. Asch had made it very clear to him. And that's why Luke was always very careful when Asch carried his sword... He didn't want to die yet! Too bad that he had it even when he sleep! But there was something wrong about Asch... Not only that they looked like each other but sometimes Luke caught Asch staring at him sadly. And that was creepy. Really creepy.

"What are you staring at, Dreck?!" Asch humphed. Luke flinched and glared at Asch. He did **not** like his new nickname...

"...Nothing." Luke lied. Asch still glared at him and Luke turned his head and stared at his reflection from the mirror. He had bruises all over his face. And scratches too. Asch had beat him pretty badly. And Luke still wonder why. And he didn't want to ask about that from Asch.

"Yeah right. Anyway we have to go to Mt. Roneal. Don't ask! We'll leave in three days. It's not your business." Asch said and all what Luke could do was to nod. Asch still glared at him and rushed out of the room. Luke tried to get some sleep but someone entered the room. It still was so dark that Luke couldn't tell was that Asch.

"Asch...?" Luke asked.

"No." The person answered. Luke recognized that voice.

"You are... Sync?" He asked again.

"You remembered?!" The voice asked surprisingly. Sync came closer and Luke saw him. He had still his mask on his face and Luke wanted so much to take it and see Sync's face. But he didn't know how Sync would react...

"Why are you here?" Luke asked. He didn't believe that Sync had just came to see him.

"It's nothing interesting..." Sync said.

"Yeah right. Tell me. What do you want?" Luke rolled his eyes. He had been with Asch too long time. He need to get out quickly!

"You really had been with Asch too long time... I just wanted to ask you something..." Sync came closer and whispered to Luke´s ear.

"Do you want to know why you and Asch are so much alike?"

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It has been three days since Asch informed to Luke that they would go to Mt. Roneal. And Asch had noticed something weird about his replica. The replica had been quiet. Too quiet. And all what he had done was staring at his reflection in the mirror and he hadn't eaten. He hadn't almost any powers left. No good.

"We should go now." Legretta said. Asch nodded and turned to look at tired Luke.

"Hey Dreck we must go now!" He shouted. He and Legretta started to walk and Luke ran after them.

- - - - - - - - -

"Asch watch out!" Legretta shouted. Asch turned around and sliced a monster into two pieces. He tried to watch how Luke was battling with a monster. He had to admit that Luke was better fighter than he had expected. When all monsters were gone they tried to find that replica.

"Did_ h_e tell any better information about that boy's location? I don't want to search the whole place!" Asch shouted.

"_He_ said that the boy is somewhere here..." Legretta answered. Van had told them that they can't say his name when Dreck was with them. But the replica was getting suspicious.

"Who are you talking abou-"

"Who are you?!" Someone shouted before Luke could ask. They turned to look up and saw two figures. The figures jumped in front of them.

"I asked who are you? What are you doing in our territory?!" A man asked. He was probably their leader. He had a messy red hair which was pulled on a ponytail and many scars all over his face. He hadn't much clothes. His axe rested on his shoulder.

"_Your_ territory?!" Luke asked loudly.

"Yes. We are the owners of Mt. Roneal. So leave before we must kill you." A woman who had a short green hair said.

"Sorry, but we can't do that. So if you let us go then _we_ don't have to kill you." Asch said and raised his sword. Luke did the same and Legretta took her guns in her hands.

"You don't leave any other choices. Well then, prepare to di-"

"Boss! I caught the intruder!" An another man came. This man had a short blond hair and a huge sword. But he dragged someone. A young boy.

The boy had a short greenish hair and a white robe. He was pale and he had many scratches all over his face. He looked like Sync and Asch knew immediately who that boy was.

"Good. Now kill him." The leader said. The boy squeaked and closed his eyes when the blond man raised his sword.

"Oh no you won't!" Luke said and rushed to the boy. His sword hit the man's sword. They both glared at each other. The man released the boy and he ran behind of Asch and Legretta.

Blond man's companions rushed to help their friend but Legretta was faster. She shot the woman in her heart couple of times.. The woman gasped and fell on the ground. The men didn't notice it yet. They were fighting with Asch and Luke. The leader were fighting with Asch and the blond man with Luke. The leader used his axe like it was a stick. But he was slow and when Legretta was shooting them it was easy. The leader was soon dead. As soon as the blond understood that he was alone he fell on the ground.

"P-please d-don't k-kill me! I-I just followed the orders. I-I didn't want to do it!" He stuttered.

"...Fine. Just go." Asch said and turned his back to the man.

It was a mistake.

"Asch watch out!" Luke shouted. Asch turned around and saw how the man threw his sword to Asch's direction. At the moment Asch was ready to die. He closed his eyes calmly and waited. But he never felt the sword in his skin. He opened his eyes. The first thing that he noticed was long red hair and a white jacket.

In front of him was Luke. The sword had pierced Luke's stomach and there was much blood.

"NO!" The man yelled angrily. Legretta shot at the man's head. Luke fell on the ground and coughed blood. He looked up at Asch. Asch just stood there.

"Why... Why did you save me?" He asked. Even though Luke had many pains he smiled. A painful and sad smile.

"Maybe because the replicas don't want their originals to die." Asch eyes widened. He _knew_?! But how?!

Suddenly the ground started to shake. Luke's eyes closed and he fainted.

"It's an avalanche!" The boy shouted. He and Legretta went to the nearest cave. Asch carried Luke forgetting everything what Van told him about leaving the replica and followed them. Asch felt something which he hadn't felt for many years.

Guilty.

- - - - - - -

Asch placed Luke on the ground. The boy started to examine Luke. The sword still in his stomach and the blood started to fall on the ground.

"He's losing too much blood!" He said. Asch explored his pockets and took an apple gel in his hand.

"Give this to him." He said. Legretta raised her eyebrows.

"_What is he doing?!"_ She thought. Van told them that, if the replica is injured then they must leave him. She watched how the boy fed Luke. _"I must tell about this to Van..." _

"It doesn't help! We must... Pull the sword out of his body...Otherwise he'll die..." The boy said and sounded like he was going to puke even by the thought.

"I'll do it." Asch sighed. He put his hand on Luke's chest. Then he wrapped his other hand around the sword's hilt. Then he pulled.

Luke screamed aloud. Asch threw the sword away and the boy explored the wound. He ripped his clothes a little to a bandage and put them on the wound.

"Now all what we can do is wait..." He muttered. Asch groaned quietly.

He hated waiting.

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Yay it's done. I am sooo happy! I love torturing Luke. I promise that this is just a beginning... And the plot keeps going. I can't wait to get write the... -Screen fades-

I am trying to write at least 30 chapter. I wanna make a long fic. I hope that I have enough ideas...

Try to guess who were those three bandits. Tip: They are from some other Tales of game....

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_


	7. Ion

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter.7 Ion

I'll try to change Sync's personality. I wasn't happy about the OOC Sync so don't wonder about the change...

Well anyway, try to enjoy... Oh and I might add some IonSync... They are so adorable together!

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss**

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"_That's my name. Ion."_

_- Ion_

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"_Do you want to know why you and Asch are so much alike?" Sync asked. Luke nodded immediately._

"_Good. The truth is that... You are his replica." Sync said. Luke's eyes widened a little but he humphed._

"_Yeah right. I don't believe you!" He said. "That is impossible. There is not such technology which would create something like that!" Luke started to shout - wondering why. Sync just stood quietly._

"_You don't have to believe me. But tell me, is there any other good reason that would explain it?"_

"_Err... Coincidence?" Luke guessed. But then he remembered something. _

"Have you forgot what I said to you! You're not my son! You are only here because of your mother!"

_That was what his father said to him. _

_Luke eyes widened even more. "N-No! It can't be! It's impossible!"_

"_But it's true. That's why Asch beat you. Because you took everything from him. His name, family, friends and his home. It all makes sense now, doesn't it?"_

"_B-But then why Asch is here? Why he isn't home with his family? Why I was created?!" Luke asked._

"_I heard that he was kidnapped when he was ten. The Duke was sure that Asch was dead. His wife was sure too and that's why she fell ill and the doctors said that she would die soon. So the Duke Fon Fabre wanted to save his wife. By creating his son's replica. And so, you were born. And the Duchess was soon better. But Asch came back. And you had taken his place in the world. So he joined us. All he has left was the hatred. To his replica. Who is you. He sees you as a thief." Sync took a little pause. He studied Luke's expression. Luke's face was blank but still in shock._

"_We replicas aren't worth of living. We just take someone's place in the world. And they hate us. Nobody does love us. The only ones who loves us thinks that we are our originals." Luke looked up at Sync._

"_You're a replica too?! He asked. Sync just nodded. _

"_Yes. But my original is dead. And like I said, my original's father hated me. Just. Like. Yours." He said. They heard voices behind the door. "I must go now." Sync said suddenly. He walked to the door and unlocked it. _

_Then he was gone and all what Luke did was staring at his reflection._

_- - - - - - - - -_

Asch was angry.

They had waited three _fucking_ hours in a _fucking _cave without any food or fireplace. And the _fucking_ replica hadn't showed any marks of healing. And after two hours of waiting, there was a storm outside the cave. A nice little snowstorm.

Yup, Asch was angry. But not only angry. He was confused too.

"_Why I saved him? Why I didn't do what Van said and left him? And why I felt guilty? He is the one who took my place! He shouldn't even exist! He is just a replica and I am his original? He should die! And why he saved me? I treated him like he was a dog! I even tried to kill that dreck!_ " Asch thought and glared at his replica's unconscious body. Asch sat in a corner on a rock. Lergetta was cleaning her guns and was deep in her thoughts too. The boy nursed Luke and explored his wound many times. It was very quiet. Only the storm raged outside.

"...Ion." The boy said finally. He stood up and walked to the entrance to check the weather. Legretta and Asch turned to look at him.

"Excuse me?" They asked in unison.

"That's my name. Ion." The boy smiled. "You don't need to introduced yourselves. I already know who you are." He continued - still smiling.

"Oh really?" Asch asked ironically but he was interested. The boy had seen how he and Legretta murdered the bandits. Shouldn't he be scared? Shouldn't he fear for his life and not just smile?

"Yeah. And I know why you are here. You are here because you are going to kidnap me."

"How did you...?!" Legretta asked surprisingly. "My parents told me. I know who I am. I run away because otherwise you would have came to the city. My parents wanted me to stay but... I don't want to risk my parents or my friends only because I am a replica."

"But then...Why didn't you run away?" Legretta asked.

"He." Ion said and pointed Luke's body. "He saved me. And I can see that he's your replica." He glared at Asch who glared back. "And I am pretty sure that you made those injures on his face. But you saved him. I don't know why are you doing this but... You don't seem to be so bad... Though, I heard that your organization made a massive damages to Fon Fabre's mansion..." He interrupted when he saw Legretta shaking her head in horror.

"What?!" Asch shouted. But....

"What are you guys yelling at...?" Someone whispered weakly. They all turned to look at Luke who sat on the ground. Ion rushed to him and forced Luke to lay down. Asch walked to them too but kept a little distance. Luke whimpered a little in pain when Ion's hands touched his skin.

"Sorry but you shouldn't move!" Ion scolded but Luke didn't listen. He looked at Asch.

"Are you okay?" Luke whispered worriedly and Asch groaned again. He nodded quickly and walked to his 'sitting rock'. He sat on it and glared at the wall. Fuck, It has returned.

The guilty has returned.

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Short chapter....Again. And this was weird chapter. I have to go to my siblings and I can't update for about two weeks! I'm sorry...

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_


	8. Father and Son

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 8. Father and son

Hello! I know that I said that I wouldn't update for two week but I got a computer! And I got so many reviews... Thank you so much! But I can't update so fast... I am really busy now...

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss! **

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"_Heh... Looks like he has two personalities."_

_- Luke_

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Luke woke up in the middle of the night. He was thirsty and the wound was really painful. Maybe he could get something that would help to the pain but... He didn't want to woke Ion. The poor boy had helped him enough. But he was still thirsty. He noticed that the snowstorm had ended and the ground was pure white.

"_Maybe I can go and eat some snow...?"_ He thought and tried to stand up but the pain was too much. He cried out loudly and thumped on the ground. He glanced around but nobody had woken up. He sighed relievedly and tried again to stand up more carefully and slowly.

"_Why am I so weak...?" _He thought when he thumped on the ground again

"Your wound will open if you keep doing that, dreck." Somebody said. Luke turned around and saw his original next to him.

"What do you want?" Luke whispered quietly. Asch didn't say anything, only glared at his replica and Luke glared back. Then finally, Luke gave up and turned his head to watch the snow. Asch noticed that and tossed a water bottle on him. Luke eye's widened but he took it and drank it empty.

"Why did you...?" He asked but Asch interrupted him.

"Don't even think that it changes anything! I just don't want you to die by thirst or everything what we have done today would be in vain!" Asch snapped. Luke closed his mouth and started to pout. He didn't notice that Asch was still watching him.

"...I guess that I...Felt little guilty..." He added. "You haven't told why did you do it." Asch changed the subject. He hated to deal with things like this. Luke didn't answer to him so Asch stood up to leave. But. Knowing his replica...

"Wait!"

"_Bingo..."_ Asch thought and turned his head back at Luke. He went back to him and they both watched outside.

"Well...? What?!" Asch snapped again. He hadn't slept at all. He had to patrol the cave so monsters wouldn't come there. And tired and angry Asch wasn't good combination... Luke muttered something quietly which Asch didn't hear.

"I asked what?! I can't hear if you mutter something quietly! You're really an idiot..." Asch said. Luke gave him an angry face and looked like he wouldn't repeat but repeated finally his question.

"... What kind of father he was to you?" Luke asked but didn't dare to look at Asch. But this question wasn't something that Asch expected.

"Who?" Asch asked even though he knew the answer.

"You know who am I talking! Fath- I mean... the Duke Fon Fabre! What kind of father he was to you!?" Luke raised his voice a little. Asch tried to recall everything about his father but it has been seven years since he saw him so it was difficult.

"I am not sure if I remember correctly but... He was kind and warm person." Asch said-wondering the question.

"He didn't... act like you were an invisible?" Luke asked quietly.

"What? No if I remember correctly... I think that mother used to say that he spoiled me."

"He spoke to you voluntarily? Nobody didn't force him to talk to you?"

"What kind of question is that?! Of course he did!" Asch started to get annoyed by these stupid questions. He turned his head and shot a death glare to Luke. But he stopped when he saw his replica's face.

"Did you ever felt like he didn't care about you or he wanted you to go away?" Luke almost whispered. Asch wondered how detailed this question was.

"No. Why you keep asking these stupid questions, dreck! Why are we talking about him when you have lived with him about seven years! I am sure that you know what kind of father he is- Wait! Don't tell me that...?!" Asch's eyes widened when he realized what was going on. Luke only gave a quick nod.

"Heh... Looks like he has two personalities" Luke smiled sadly. He continued when he noticed that Asch didn't understand completely.

"I always knew that something was wrong. He never spoke to me or cared me. He never acted like father should. I thought that I've done something really bad... Guy thought that he didn't want to show his feelings but... That didn't sound right. Mo- Duchess noticed that too. She always made the excuses that he was tired or he was busy. But of course I heard the maids gossips. That he hadn't be the same since the kidnap. And I heard many times how the Duchess tried to ask what was wrong but the Duke never answered. Actually, he got angry if she asked. And then finally when he spoke to me voluntarily he... Said that I wasn't his son... But he was right. I am not his son. You are. That's why I protected you from that sword." Luke whispered. Asch didn't say nothing. Then finally, he stood up.

"You're a crazy, dreck. And a stupid. And an idiot. Actually, I could continue the list all night but..." He said. "You should sleep, okay?" He went to his corner and sat down on the stone. He recalled everything which Luke had told. He always thought that the replica had a sweet and easy life. But still the dreck's story was weird...

Van had told him that his father made a replica of him because his mother would had otherwise died. But there would have been many others ways to stop the illness. And on that day the brat- err... Ion said something about Fon Fabre's mansion...

Asch must find out why.

Asch yawned loudly and realized how tired he was. _"Maybe the guilty would now ease up a little..." _He thought and closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately.

He or Luke didn't know that somebody was watching.

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Oh my who was watching them...? Find out in the next chapter!

This chapter was little blaah blaah but I try to make up it... And again, it was short... I hate myself... I'll try to make up it too... It can take some time.

Next time: _**The Beauty and the Beast**_

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_


	9. The Beauty and The Beast

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 9. The Beauty and The Beast

Yay, Disney reference! 'The Beauty and the Beast' is my favorite Disney movie. I hate the new movies like 'Bolt'...

I had so much fun when I wrote this... This is my way to do angst-fic... Hmm... I got only one review but whatever. Everything can't be perfect.

Now people fear... It's Emo-Luke time!

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss **

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"_...What is he doing here...?"_

_- Sync The Tempest_

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Van was cleaning his sword when somebody knocked the door. He put his sword on the desk and sat on the chair behind his desk.

"It's open." He said calmly and the door opened. Legretta came in with a young boy who glared at Van. Van studied the boy and knew immediately who he was.

So, the mission was a success.

"I have came here to give the report. And of course, the boy." Legretta said glaring at the boy warningly.

"We went to Mt. Roneal and met the boy. Or actually... We met three bandits who had the boy. We killed them but the racket was too big and soon an avalanche almost killed us. But we made it into a cave and waited. After a day we traveled back here."

"And what about that... other thing?" Van asked looking still at the boy.

"That's what I wanted to talk with you. It looks like that Asch's replica had find out the truth. When the bandits attacked the replica protected Asch. A sword pierced his stomach."

"So he's dead? Did the sword or the avalanche kill him? " Van asked._ "And how did he find out?" _He thought.

"Actually... Asch saved him. Carried him into the cave and gave an apple gel to him. And this boy helped. Otherwise he would had died." Legretta said carefully. She tried to find out what Van was thinking but his face was blank. Then finally, he sighed and turned around and watched the window. He watched the rain and how a thunder hit on the ground somewhere.

"So then he is here, right?" He asked - hiding his face. Legretta nodded and pointed Ion.

"And he almost told to Asch what happened to Fon Fabre's mansion. Looks like the news travel fast. I stopped him though."

"Good work Legretta. Looks like I can trust you till the end... Boy." Van said turning his head to Ion's direction. Ion still glared at him but his body trembled noticeably. "What's your name." Van smiled friendly.

"Huh? Umm...Ion." Ion said uncertainly. Van went to Ion and put his cold hand on Ion's shoulder.

"Well then, Ion... If you'll tell anything about Fon Fabre's mansion's fate to Asch we'll burn down your home village. And we'll make sure that nobody won't survive." Van said - still smiling. Ion's eyes widened even more and he bit his lips.

"And now Ion... I have a present to you. Let's say that it's a... welcoming present." Van pointed the door and Ion heard footsteps behind it. The door opened and a young boy came in. He had a mask on his face and a greenish hair.

"What did you want Va-" He interrupted when he noticed Ion. He stopped immediately walking and Ion felt how the boy stared at him. The boy started to breath heavily and his body trembled like Ion's did. But not by fear.

"...What is he doing here...?" He whispered quietly. Van or Legretta didn't answer to him.

"I asked, what is he doing here? WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!" The boy shouted angrily and tried to attack Van but Legretta took her guns quickly in her hands and targeted at the boy.

"Calm down Sync." She said – still targeting Sync's heart. Van sighed and rubbed his forehead. He put his hand away from Ion's shoulder and went back behind the desk.

"It's unusual to see you loosing your coolness like that. But say hello to Ion, Sync." Van said giving a sign to Legretta to put her guns away. Ion tried to understand what was going on and Sync didn't say nothing. He only glared at Ion hatefully. Or Ion felt him glaring.

"Legretta and Asch found him at Mt. Roneal. He isn't a fighter but he's smart. And I want you to take care of him." Van said to Sync who still didn't react. Unlike Legretta.

"Van! Are you sure? Sync'll kill him!" She said.

"No he won't. And Sync knows what will happen if he does." Van looked at Sync who still didn't say anything.

"But Sync! It's not nice that you won't say nothing to your 'brother'! After all, you are the same person!" Van said loudly which made Sync and Ion to startle. And everything was now clear to Ion.

Now he knew who Sync was.

- - - - - -

Luke was tired. It had taken all of his strength to travel back. He tried to take a nap on the stone floor but it was too cold. And the wound was still painful. And Ion was nowhere. Great.

But not only bad things had happened. He had a conversation with Asch without punching or kicking or treating with a sword! And Luke was sure that he had made Asch feel guilty! Life was great...

...Or was it?

Luke knew that Asch still loved his parents. And Luke had killed his mother. What Asch'll do when he find out?

"_...Mom..."_ Luke thought. The Duchess would never know that the boy who she had hugged or loved wasn't... Her real son. That he was only her son's _replica_. Or actually... A failed replica.

Luke remembered when the maids and the butlers gossiped about him when he was younger. That the old Luke wasn't like he was now. That he had been mature and politely boy. Not childish or goof. And Luke hadn't memories at all about the living before the kidnap.

"_Sync was right... Nobody does love us... We shouldn't have even born."_ He thought. By the way...Luke wondered where Ion was. Legretta took him to somewhere. And Ion was a replica too... When they came back he told Luke. And then Luke realized who Ion was. That Ion and Sync both were replicas from the same boy who had died a long time ago.

Luke stared at his reflection. It has became a habit. He studied his reflection. He wasn't a failure only by a mind but also by his body. They both had pure green eyes but Asch's eyes were more mature looking than Luke's. Their hair were red but Luke 's was more lighter than Asch's. A perfect failure. Luke touched the mirror looking at it sadly.

...Wait a sec.

Luke went closer to mirror but didn't stare at his reflection. He looked at the door's reflection. Since when the door had been open? And what was that noise? It sounded like... Breathing. A heavy breathing. Like a... Monster.

Luke turned around slowly and saw a huge monster on Asch's bed. A huge cat-like monster. It stared at Luke like he was a piece of meat. Then it started to walk to Luke slowly and lazily. Luke started to panic and the pain in wound hardened. Then he noticed a sword which lied on a floor. He rushed to the sword and grabbed it. The beast halted and swung its huge tail. It hit on the table. The table flew to the wall and broke immediately.

"_Okay... This is not the way I thought that I'd die." _Luke thought and charged to the beast. He swung the sword but the beast dodged it. And the sword was too heavy to Luke so it hit on the bed and almost pierced it into two piece. Luke watched in horror when he took the sword away and saw a massive cut on the mattress.

"_Asch'll kill me! Well, if the beast won't...." _He thought and tried again to attack the beast. He swung the sword again but the beast bit on Luke's left hand. Luke gasped and dropped his sword. The beast raised its pawn - ready to attack.

"_I must admit that this is not the way I thought I'd die... And so soon...! But maybe it's best... I should have never born anyway..." _Luke thought sadly. He closed his eyes hoping it would end soon.

"Mommy, don't!" A young girl's voice shouted. Luke opened his eyes. The beast had lowered its pawn and it turned its head to the voice's direction. Luke turned his head too - wanting to see his savior. He saw a young girl with a long slight dark pink hair. She had black clothes and a creepy looking doll with her. The beast walked to her and the girl padded it.

"Mommy please don't ever run off like that. I thought that something happened to you!" The girl spoke to the beast. Luke stared at the girl – looking at her like she was crazy. Which she probably was. But when the girl stopped padding the beast she noticed Luke. She looked at him confusedly. She glanced the wound on his hand and noticed the sword on the floor and gasped.

"You tried to kill Mommy!" She cried.

"What! It tried to eat me!" Luke shouted back. The girl fell on her knees and hugged her... 'Mommy'.

"Mommy wouldn't do that! She tried to protect herself from your sword!" The girl cried loudly.

"It tried to eat me _before_ I took the sword!"

"Liar!"

"I am not!"

"Yes you are, liar!"

"I am not!"

"Yes you ar-"

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY ROOM!?" An angry voice came behind the girl. The girl and Luke both startled and turned to look at angry Asch.

"A-Asch...?" The girl asked and stood up.

"Arietta? What are you and your pet doing in my room?" Asch asked angrily. The girl – knowing as Arietta glared at him.

"She is not my pet! She's my Mommy!" She said angrily and hugged her plushie.

"Whatever! Get out! GET THE FUCK OUT!" Asch yelled angrily. Arietta walked away with her Mommy and Asch closed the door. Or actually, slammed it. He turned around slowly and looked at Luke.

"And you..." He said.

"What, me?" Luke tried to sound innocent.

"Yes, you... What have you done to my room?" Asch said slowly. He glanced the room. The room was a mess. The table and the bed were broken and books were ripped too. Only the mirror had survived without any scratches.

"It wasn't me! You saw that beast! It did this!" Luke tried to explain. Asch went to the bed and pointed the mattress.

"I think that Liger can't do this." Asch said. He glared at the sword which lied on the floor.

"I-It came closer so I tried to attack it..." Luke shuttered.

"WHAT! You tried to kill the Liger Queen!?" Asch looked at him in horror. He walked to Luke and grabbed his hair.

"Are you an idiot!? Do you have any idea what would happen if you'd do that!"

"Err... What?"

"First, Arietta would kill you slowly and painfully. Then she'd send a bunch of Ligers after me because you were in my room and I should look after you! And God knows what it would do to her mind! You useless stupid dreck!"

"WELL I AM REALLY SORRY THAT I TRIED TO PROTECT MYSELF FROM A FRIGGING BLOOD HUNGRY BEAST WHO TRIED TO EAT ME!" Luke shouted to Asch's ear. Asch let go of his hair and put his hand on his ear.

"How dare you..." Asch muttered grabbing Luke's neck and punched him hard. Right on his stomach.

Luke tried to gasp air but Asch's hand was on way. And Asch still didn't notice that the wound was opening. He continued to hit Luke until noticed that Luke's clothes started to get red. Asch's eyes widened when he noticed that his fist was covered by blood.

"Fuck!" He released Luke's neck but he had fainted. His body collapsed on the floor. Asch sighed and tossed his bloody gloves away. He lifted Luke on the broken bed. He tried to stop the bleeding with a blanket but it didn't work. Asch stood up and walk to the door.

He wondered where Ion would be.

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Wow this is like the longest chapter which I have ever wrote!

Poor Luke... I always torture him... Should I stop... Meh, whatever. It's my new hobby now! And don't get wrong people who like Arietta. I like her too! And Liger Queen! And Arietta's doll! It's so cute! So freaky and cute! And Dist's chair! And and... Jade's glasses! And... -Gets slapped by an angry reader-

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_

Though he might not be in this story... Maybe.


	10. Past

**Shattered Mirror**

**Chapter 10. Past**

Wow, tenth chapter already! And I'll try to not torture Luke so much... Now it's Asch's turn!

Asch: Stay a hell away from me freak!

Rag Doll-Kun: Aww...-pout-

**Accident prone**: You don't have any ideas what kind of torturing will come... One of them is actually the reason why I started to publish this story... And how I got the idea for the whole story!

**Kairi162: **Yay, thank you! Have a cookie!

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_Oh, okay...I'm sorry.."_

_-Ion_

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"_Where the hell is he!?"_ Asch thought angrily. He had searched the whole base! It has been two hours since he left the room. And he wasn't sure was Luke still alive. Not that he cared or something... He just didn't want a corpse in his room. It would take a long time to clean the blood from there anyway.

He stopped walking and recalled every place where he had searched. The only place was...

Van's room.

Great. Just great. Asch was sure that Van already knew that he had saved the dreck. After all, Legretta was his trustworthiest follower. She'd tell everything to Van. But didn't Legretta take the brat with her? So there weren't any other choice...

Asch started to walk to the direction of Van´s room but saw Legretta coming from there. She muttered something under her breath but noticed Asch and closed her mouth.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you tired?" Legretta asked.

"No. I must speak to Va- Actually, I wanted to ask that do you know where that replica brat is?" Asch asked – thanking gods that he didn't have to go to Van's room.

"You mean that Ion boy? He with Sync."

"What?!"

"You heard right. Van's order." Legretta said but Asch didn't still believe her.

"What? It's true. I'm not sure about this myself... But it's Van's order so we must follow it." Legretta said coldly and walked away. Asch bit his lips, not wanting to hit the woman. But now he had a clue. Maybe they were in Sync's room...?

- - - - -

"So... This is your room. It's... Nice." Ion tried to talk with Sync. Too bad that the other replica didn't want to do anything with him. Not getting an answer, Ion sighed tiredly. So this was the life in here. So this was his destiny.

Ion studied the room with his eyes. It was dark but it had a one small window in the roof. Ion was sitting on the cold floor and Sync was on the bed. There was a huge closet in a corner. It looked old and smelled like one. At the wall was a tiny fireplace and in front of it was a comfy looking armchair. But nothing else. Even though the room was bigger than Ion's old house!

...Weird. Ion didn't know where he was or why he was there. And he was in a same room with some boy who probably wanted to kill him but still... He didn't miss his old home. And he hadn't thought his old family either.

Well, his old home or family weren't so special. They were poor and the parents had four other kids to take care. All of them were girls. They told the villagers that they wanted a boy. But Ion knew that he was girly so it didn't make any difference... They had tried to do their best but sometimes father had enough and tried to forget everything by drinking. And then he had beat his children. Ion still had many scars as a proof. And at his old village the people weren't very open minded and they hated everything weird. Like a young boy who had came to village without any memories six years ago. And Ion didn't have any real friends. The closest friend who he had was his younger sister and she was three years old! And his foster parents hadn't taken him only because of the pity or because they wanted a boy.

His step-mother told him that she and her husband had been scientists. And six and half years ago a man had came to them begging them to make a replica by his dead son. The man was rich and the project had sound interesting so they accepted it. They and many other scientist had tried to create a perfect clone. The project was long and tiring but finally they did it. But he wasn't happy. He wanted a new one. So they created a new replica. They succeed to made seven replicas. And seven times they made failures. So the man lost his mind and burned his mansion. The replicas and the scientists were inside and many of them died. And some of them risked their lives to safe the replicas. But only couple of them survived. Ion's foster parents survived but the project had taken too much time and they lost all of their money.

He watched at Sync. Did he know? About why he was born?

"...Stop that." Sync suddenly said.

"What?" Ion asked. This was the first time when Sync had spoken to him.

"Stop staring at me. It's annoying." Sync muttered. He probably didn't want to talk with Ion.

"Oh, okay... I'm sorry.." Ion smiled – looking little embarrassed.

"_How can he smile like that? How can he smile when he knows what he is."_ Sync thought. But he cut his thoughts when the door opened and Asch came in. Without any words, he went to Ion, grabbed at his arm and rushed away with Ion.

"Huh?" Sync stared at the door. What Asch did here? Why he took Ion? Why he didn't say anything?

Sync stared at the roof. Then suddenly, he stood up and walked out of his room.

He didn't have any other things to do so why not follow them?

- - - - - - -

"A-Asch? Is something wrong?" Ion tried to ask. Asch's grip just tightened and Ion gasped in pain. Then they stopped running and Asch opened the door front of them. It was darker than Sync's room and it took time till Ion's eyes got use to the darkness he saw the messy room. It looked like somebody had fought in there. Asch leaded him to the bed and Ion saw a person laying on it.

Luke.

"Stop the bleeding." Asch ordered. Ion rushed to the bed and examined the wound. He took the blanket which Asch had tried to use and put it on the wound. He pushed it on the wound hard and Luke yelped in pain.

"I need some water. Hot water." Ion ordered. Asch nodded and went out. He came back soon with a bucket. Ion took it and put the blanket in it.

"Do you have any needles and thread? It looks like I must... suture it..." Ion's face was getting pale. Asch went to the cabinet and opened it. Soon he came back with a needle and thread.

"T-Thanks... C-Can you leave the room...?" Ion muttered – shaking a little. Asch glared at him. So the brat was trowing him out of his room?

"You're sure that you can do it?" Asch suspected. He only got a small nod.

"Fine." Asch stood up and left the room.

- - - - -

After fifteen minutes, the door opened.

"I... did it." Ion said – looking still very pale. His white clothes where bloody.

"He's sleeping now. He lost much blood but he'll survive." They stood there some time.

"So... What happened? I told him not to do something which would open the wound." Ion asked. Asch decided not to lie.

"I punched him."

"What?!" Ion shouted. His eyes widened by surprise. But his expression changed when he slowly turned to glare at Asch.

"And why did you do that?" He asked.

"He annoyed me, so I punched him." Asch said without thinking. And a second later, he felt something on his cheek.

Ion had slapped him.

"What the-" He started but Ion interrupted him.

"So, he annoyed you, huh? Do you have any idea how is _he_ feeling right now! He had just heard that he is a replica! _Your_ replica! He thinks that he shouldn't have ever been born! And I heard how you guys talked at the cave! Your father wanted your replica so he hired the scientists to make one! But he never threated him like he threated you! Your father saw Luke as a failed replica! Luke told me what the Duke said to him! You and your father are so similar! You're both selfish!" Ion shouted. And without waiting an answer, he walked to direction of Sync's room. Asch just stood there a blank expression on his face. They didn't notice that somebody else was listening.

"_Maybe after all, his smile is a fake." _Sync thought and walked to his room direction – knowing that he would deal with a upset Ion.

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If you thought that this is how I torture Asch then you're wrong. More will come... But try to imagine that! Ion slapping Asch! Maybe I should draw that...

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_

He maybe show in this fic! I have an idea...


	11. I'm Sorry

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 11. I'm Sorry

Looks like everybody enjoyed Ion slapping Asch scene. Lol... I wasn't sure that should I write that but after looking those amazing reviews, I don't regret it. (Colette's theme played in my head when I wrote the title of this chapter...)

**Kairi162:** You don't need to worry about Asch... Luke'll have waayy more torturing than Asch... But in the next three chapters I'll torture Asch... Actually I call it as 'Asch's Pains' trilogy... And I am not a sadist!

**CrystalizePen:** Yay, three reviews! And yeah, Luke is kind but I hope that he isn't too OOC... And Asch is so cruel because he has so huge temper and he has forgotten all the manners... Well maybe not all of them but...

**Dreamstar13:** Good to have you back! And I wonder that too... Will Sync do the same thing what Asch did to Luke or is he nice to Ion? Find out in this chapter!

**Accident Prone: **Like I already said, I'll write 'Asch's Pains trilogy' which is like...pure Asch's torturing... I hope that you'll enjoy... But... Asch shouldn't punch Colette... He should **kill** Colette! And Marta too! He should rip them open with a rusty sword slowly and painfully... He should burn them alive and push them from a cliff! He should send the wolves to eat them slowly! He should-

Ion: -Sigh- alright it's time to take your medicines...

Huh? What happened? Well... enjoy!

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss**

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"_But you're not!"_

_- Asch the Bloody_

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Sync went to his room slowly, thinking what he should say to Ion. Sync hated to deal with things like this. Well... He has never dealt things like this. He tried to come up with something and before he knew it, he was standing front of his room. He opened it slowly and the hinges creaked painfully to ears. The room was lighter than usually, probably because the sun was shining brightly. Sync glanced the room but Ion was nowhere. Then he heard some voices from the armchair. He went closer and heard that somebody was sobbing lightly. And there was only one person who could be there besides Sync...

"_Oh no... Fuckfuckfuck..." _Sync's heart beat faster when he coughed quietly. Ion stopped sobbing immediately.

"W-What are you doing in my chair?" Sync asked. Ion turned his head slowly but unlike Sync thought , Ion's eyes weren't red by crying. Actually, he had a confused look on his face. But when he saw who came, he started to smile brightly.

"Hi Sync!" Ion smiled happily but Sync knew that it was a fake. After all, they were the same person.

"Were did you go?" Ion asked, still smiling. Sync didn't answer but lowered his gaze to Ion's clothes. Which were still red by Luke's blood. Ion did the same, widening his eyes when he noticed the blood.

"Ack! I-I... Were did that blood come from?" Ion started to panic, trying to make an excuse. Sync rolled his eyes, putting his hand on Ion's lips.

"You talk too much." He sighed. "Look... I know what happened. That blood is Luke's because Asch punched him. And yes, I heard the whole conversation. Or actually... I eavesdropped it." The look in Ion's eyes were hilarious. The expression was confused, relieved, questionably and angry at the same time. Sync took his away, fearing that Ion would bite it.

"You...Followed us?" Ion asked, glaring at Sync who nodded slightly.

"I didn't have anything else to do." Sync defensed himself. Ion stopped glaring and turned to look at the dusty fireplace which hadn't been in use ever.

"I...I don't understand him." Ion whispered.

"Who? Asch?" Sync who´s curiousity won asked.

"No... I don't understand Luke..." Ion whispered. "When I sutured the wound, he woke up for a while. And all what he asked was ' Where's Asch? I must apologize to him. I messed his room pretty badly...' I mean, Asch almost killed him! Twice! Well, in the first time Luke protected Asch but the second time was Asch's fault. I know that Luke feels guilty because he 'stole' Asch's life... But Asch had treated him like a dog! And when we came back from Mt. Roneal me and Luke talked about being replica... I don't get it! He thinks that he isn't worth of living and he should have never been born! Who gave those ideas to him anyway..." Ion´s voice raised louder when he finally could say all what he thinks to Sync.

"_... I'm not going to comment to that last part... That slap looked pretty painfully..."_ Sync thought.

"Listen... I haven't ever dealt with things like this so I can't say anything comforting to you. But think what Asch feels right now. Suddenly, his replica comes to his life and reminds all Asch's memories before he joined us. Then he beats all crap out of his replica and some days later the replica protects him from death. I would be pretty confused right now..."

"_Well... My life have changed too, thanks to you..." _Sync added in his mind sarcastically. Ion stared at him blankly until smile brightly.

"You know... That was the first time when you talked so much to me." Ion said, smiling even more. Sync closed his mouth, noticing the same 'mistake' which he had done.

"I hope that we'll become good friends!" He continued cheerfully.

"Tch, whatever!" Sync turned around and walked to his bed, trying to hide his blush.

- - - - - - -

Asch didn't know how long he had stood there. It felt like hours but it couldn't be more than a couple of minutes. His cheek hurt or actually... It felt like it was burning. Seriously, what kind of powers that brat had?!

Sighing hardly, Asch opened the door. Luke was lying on the broken bed, breathing slowly. His shirt was on the floor next to him and the water in the bucket was dyed in red. Asch sat on the broken chair and took a book from the floor. He flipped the pages, not reading them and tried to think. He tossed the book away and took another from the floor.

"...Asch...?" A weak voice asked. Asch raised his head and saw Luke who tried to go to sitting posture but crashed back on the broken mattress.

"You shouldn't move." Asch said angrily.

"Were am I?" Luke asked.

"In my room, dreck! Where else could you be! And for god´s sake, stop moving!" Asch almost shouted but Luke didn't listen. Slowly, he managed and leaned his back on the wall. He looked down, eyes widening.

"Am I sitting on your _bed_?!" He asked which made Asch even more angry.

"Where else you could be, you moron!" Asch shouted. Why his replica was so idiot?

"Stop that!" Luke shouted back.

"What?"

" You are always yelling to me or revile me! It always makes me look stupid!" Luke shouted.

"Well... You_ are_ stupid, dreck!" Asch yelled back.

"Stop using that nickname! I'm not dreck! I am Luke!"

"But you're_ not_!" Asch said before it was too late.

"I..." Luke opened his mouth then closed it again, looking at the ground sadly.

"_Great! Good work Asch! Now you have to deal with this!"_ Asch thought, grabbing his hair with his hands. It was long silence in the room when they both were deep in their thoughts.

"I'm sorry!" They both said in unison.

"Huh?" Again, they said in unison, though Asch´s tone was more angrier than Luke's.

"Why are you apologizing?!" Asch asked.

"I... Messed your room and made you angry and..."

"Wait a sec. You're apologizing because the Liger queen messed my room and because my hot temper you're now in more pain than earlier!? You're so idiot, drec-"

"IF YOU DON'T STOP CALLING ME IDIOT OR DRECK I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!" Luke shouted almost in Asch's ear, ready to fill his treat but his wound disagreed with him.

"Ah...!" Luke cried in pain, putting his hands on his wound.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry! For everything!!" Asch said, taking an apple gel from his pocket which he had stolen from Sync when he had gone to Sync's room. Luke took it immediately and ate it, realizing how hungry he was.

"Y-You're forgiven..." Luke said, smiling.

" You'll gonna regret that..." Asch sighed turning to leave the room.

"Hey wait a sec." Luke grabbed his shirt.

"What?" Asch turned to look at Luke again.

"What is that red mark on your right cheek?" Luke asked innocently, waiting an answer which he never got. Asch looked at the door, glaring at it.

"Not your business, dreck and excuse me but I must go now." Asch said, rushing out of the room, leaving a very confused looking Luke behind.

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I'm sorry that this took so long time! But now I have some bad news... I can't update for a week. This time, I'm serious...

And the reason why Ion's and Sync's relationship develops faster is because they're both replicas. They can understand each other but Asch and Luke are original and replica. And their personalities aren't so similar...

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_


	12. Asch's pains I

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 12. Asch's Pains

Now will start 'Asch's pains' trilogy! I hope that you'll enjoy... The trilogy will be about four chapters long. And full of Asch's torturing! And maybe some shounen-ai... MUAHHAAA!

And people I can't update for a couple of day because I'm going TO A FRICKING JAPAN! I can't wait!

And again, I got a new fic idea... AschLuke of course and it's AU... I think that I'll start to update it soon.

**Dreamstar13:** Yeah he didn't kicked his butt... Let say that Luke was too tired. And sorry that this took so long time.

**Accident prone: **You like that chapter! Holy... I didn't like it. And it made you laugh? Well it made me too...XDD Hopeless...

**Crystalizepen: **Yup, Sync is cute. Especially his Japanese voice. It's the voice which Pikachu have! I laughed when I find out...XDD

**Kairi162: **Yup but all the best torturing styles are to Luke. So Asch don't have to worry about his safety... Maybe...

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_Asch are you okay?"_

_- Arietta the Wild_

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"It's open." Van said. He was reading an old book but raised his head to look who had come in. The red headed teen came in.

"You wanted to talk with me?" Asch said, fearing slightly. Would Van punish him? Most likely. Asch had broken the rules. He had saved that stupid dreck. But after all what they have done, was it really so bad thing? The dreck's life hadn't been so nice than Asch has thought.

"Yes. Look at this." Van pointed the book which lied on his desk. Asch sighed relievedly and went to the desk. He grabbed the book. The book was old and its covers were brown. It hadn't a title and Asch flipped it. He raised his eyebrow when he understood what the book handled

"Sorcerer Ring?" He asked, turning to look at Van questionably.

"Yes. I want you go to take it."

"But... I heard that the Cheagles have it. And they won't give it easily."

"And that's why I want you to go there."

"Who goes with me?" Asch asked. He didn't like this. Why Van wanted something like that? There is something weird going on...

"Arietta. She take the Liger Queen with her. And... If your replica has grown any stronger, then take him too. And this time, don't even try to save him. Remember that he took your place and stole your life and parents. And you know that now you can take all of that back." Van smiled, knowing that this time Asch wouldn't betray him. He had ordered Arietta to keep an eye on him. And with the Liger Queen this would be easy. And Asch wasn't stupid. He knew too that now he can't do anything what he'd regret later. Unlike his replica.

"Yes... I know that." Asch said blankly, trying to hide his anger. He put the book back on the desk.

"Can I go now?" He asked. Van nodded and Asch walked quickly to the door. He was opening it when Van noticed something.

"What are those?" Van asked. Asch turned around, looking at him confusedly.

"Huh?"

"Those purple marks on your cheek. Are those... bruises?" Asch gasped and slammed his hand on his right cheek. Which he regret immediately because he felt a nasty pain on his cheek.

"I... I must go now!" He said quickly and rushed out of the room.

"Stupid brat! I'm gonna cut your hands off!" Asch muttered to himself, going to the direction of his room.

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_-Three days later-_

"Here we are." Asch sighed. The journey had been hard for him. Arietta and Luke had argued the whole trip. Asch had been

afraid that Arietta'd order her 'mommy' to eat the dreck. (He wasn't sure would that be a good or a bad thing.) They still glared at each other like a children would do.

"We must get to the deepest part of this forest. The Cheagles lives in there." Asch continued, acting like the dreck and the freak would listen him.

"Why is that liar with us Asch?" Arietta asked.

"For the last time I'm not a liar!" Luke shouted back.

"Yes you are!"

"I'm not!"

"Yes you are-"

"SHUT THE FUCK OFF! BOTH OF YOU!" Asch screamed, taking his sword from it´s sheath. Arietta and Luke felt the murder aura coming and stopped fighting.

"Now. We are going to the forest, get that stupid ring, coming back and I can get rid of both of you. Understood?" Asch said slowly. He walked to the entrance of the forest but didn't notice how Luke and Arietta punched each other for a last time.

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"It's pretty dark here." Luke said after a couple of hours walking in the forest and he was starting to get tired.

"I ask again, why is he with us Asch? Just look at him! He's already tired. And we should hurry or Van will kill us." Arietta whispered to Asch so Luke couldn't hear them.

"Because he can be useful." Asch said, thinking of one event at Mt. Roneal. "Hey dreck if you don't hurry we'll leave you here." Asch shouted annoyingly, starting to walk faster with Arietta.

"H-Hey don't leave me!" Luke ran after them. He reached them in a minute, gasping air.

"Stupid dreck, if you don't want to get killed, save your energy and don't run like a headless chicken!" Asch said angrily, pushing Luke into a bush.

"What the..." Luke said, turning to look at Asch. "What was that all about!?" He shouted angrily but Asch has started to walk away with confused looking Arietta. _"There wasn't even a reason why he pushed me... What the hell?" _Luke thought angrily, following Asch and Arietta.

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They walked in a silence which made Luke uncomfortable. He stared at the ground, thinking. Why Asch was so angry to him? What he had done to make him so angry? Maybe he still was so angry because Luke had come to his life. Well it was obvious that Asch hated him. That kinda... Hurt to know that. Why? Maybe Luke felt guilty too...

"Asch are you okay?" Arietta suddenly asked which caught Luke's attention. He raised his gaze to look at Asch. Asch has leaned his back to a tree and coughed fiercely. Luke rushed to him, trying to put his hand on Asch´s shoulder but Asch slapped it away. Asch tried to hide his face but it was too late.

"Asch what's that?" Luke asked in horror, pointing Asch's hands. They were covered by blood. And before Asch could answer, he fainted but Luke caught him before he hit the ground.

"Asch...? ASCH?!" Luke shouted. But there was no answer.

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Oh my what happened to Asch...? Find out in the next chapter.

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY**_


	13. Asch's pains II

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 13. Asch's pains II

I bought Tales of Innocence after a long searching. It's an awesome game. And I'm so sorry that this took so long time!

**Accident Prone:** Yay somebody noticed it! And there is something else why Arietta is with them... Kukuku...

**Dreamstar13:** Yeah it's sweet... Torturing Luke and Asch is sooo sweet. I hope that I can make this fic over a thirty chapter long!

**CrystalizePen: **Yeah I'm sure that he would regret it later but it's kinda same like having a sister or a brother. Sometimes you just want to watch or make them suffer and sometimes you want to hug them hard... You're a cruel person!? At least you're not writing this! XD And when I heard that they have a same voice actress, I saw Sync in a new light... I'm not sure was is good or a bad thing...

**LatyfeSurLeSora: **Ahahhaa... Please don't kill me. I love cliffhangers...

**Mystearica's Lullaby: **Holy... Thank you! And I will complete this story no matter what so don't worry!

By the way, I have published a new story! AschLuke fic which name is Luna Nova! Go read it and you can leave a nice review too!

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss! I only own purple witches! **

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"_Our only hope is The Sorcerer's Ring."_

_-_Arietta the Wild

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"Asch? Asch are you okay?!" Luke panicked. He fell on his knees and placed Asch's head on his lap, noticing that his jaw was covered with blood. He teared a tiny piece from his jacket and cleaned the blood.

"Move!" Arietta pushed Luke away and started to examine Asch.

"Mommy could you...?" Arietta asked, pointing at the bushes were Asch had coughed the blood. The Liger Queen snarled quietly and went behind the bushes. Luke could only watch in horror Asch's pale face and fearing the worst. A moment later, The Liger Queen came back from the bushes and walked to Arietta, growling a little. Arietta otherwise gasped and clapped her hand on her mouth.

"Are you sure mommy?" She asked, sounding little worried.

"What is it?" Luke asked angrily. He wanted to know what was going on.

" A rare poison spider has bit him." Arietta glared at him. How dare that boy speak with her with that tune?! Luke still stared at her confusedly so she continued.

"They're called as 'Purple witches' because of their color. They are really small so they are almost invisible for human eyes. They suck blood from humans and replace the blood with poison. A deadly poison. The symptoms are coughing blood, fever,pains in body, dizziness and in the end, death. Mommy could smell the poison in Asch's blood. The stink was so strong that he hasn't much time left. "

"W-What?! He's going to die?!" Luke yelled but Arietta only nodded, hugging her plushie tightly.

"I-Is there any way to remove the poison?" He asked.

"There's one way and it could work... We maybe have a chance to cure him if we make it in time... We're kinda lucky..." Arietta muttered for a moment.

"Well, what is it?!" Luke was starting to get impatient which Arietta didn't like.

"Our only hope is The Sorcerer's Ring." She said with a rude tone.

"Huh?"

"If we place it on Asch's finger, it'll cure him. Many thousands years ago, The Sorcerer's Ring was originally a tool to heal any illness but when humans became greedy, wanting it to themselves, the healers gave it to the Cheagles. And they have had it since then." Arietta told Luke who thought for a moment.

"Then... We're lucky because we're taking that ring from the Cheagles anyway?"

"Well yeah! Or he'll die in three days."

"Three days?! We must hurry! C'mon!" Luke stood up and was ready to leave.

"... Who's gonna carry Asch?" Arietta asked. Luke turned around to look at her, making are-you-an-idiot expression.

"That." He said, pointing the Liger Queen.

"No!" Arietta gasped, leaving her plushie on the ground and rushed to hug the Liger Queen tightly.

"And why it can't carry him?" Luke snarled. "If it can broke people's tables only swinging its tail then of course it can carry Asch!" Arietta's grip tightener around the Liger Queen's neck.

"But but... Mommy just can't!"

"Then whose gonna carry him?! You?!"

"No! You can carry him! He _is_ your original so you could make yourself useful to him!"

"You little..." Luke clenched his hand into fists, ready to punch the girl.

"...You guys are so... noisy." A weak voice came behind Arietta. Both Luke and Arietta turned around to see Asch who tried to stand up.

"You shouldn't move." Arietta pointed out, walking to him.

"I'm... I'm fine." Asch tried to fight back but started to cough painfully.

"You think that is healthy?" Luke said, pointing the fresh blood on Asch's hands.

"...I'm fine, really. We must complete our mission before_ he'll _starts to get impatient." Asch stood up, trying to look strong but his body disagreed with him. His feet gave way and he fell on his knees, gasping air. He felt humiliated. Since when he body has been so weak?!

"You're _not_ okay!" Luke sighed, taking Asch's hand and lifted Asch on his feet slowly and carefully. But when Asch was standing there Luke didn't release his grip. He swung Asch's hand over Luke's shoulder and tried to take his another hand.

"W-What are you doing dreck?!" Asch stuttered, feeling something hot growing on his cheeks.

Was he...blushing? Was Asch the Bloody blushing?

"I'm giving you a piggyback so don't move!" Luke said with an annoyed tone.

"WHAT?! Let go off me now dreck!" Asch yelled furiously, blushing even more. He took his hands off from Luke's shoulder and step back from his replica, trying to hide his face so nobody could see the blush on his face.

"Don't ever think that I would let someone so miserable and useless thing like you giving me a piggyback!" He shouted quietly because the poison had took much energy from him. He started to walk into deeper parts of the forest. Soon, Arietta went to pick her plushie and followed Asch with the Liger Queen, leaving a hurt looking Luke behind.

Luke stood there sometime. Asch's words has hurted him more then he had expected. He just wanted to help him. What wrong was about that? Was he really that useless? He had saved Asch's life but that wasn't enough. Asch still hated him. Even if he'd sacrificed his life it wouldn't be enough. All what meeting Asch had done was suffering. Maybe after this mission he could run away. Away from everything... No Asch or the Duke haunting him.

Well... Only if Asch'll surviver from this mission.

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Damn, I'd like to see that piggyback thing... But next time: Meet the Cheagles!

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_

And a group of purple witches might come and bite you!


	14. Asch's Pains III

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 14. Asch's Pains III 

Sorry this took so long time but now the chapter is pretty long! Even though it was pain to write it, I love this chapter! Dunno why.

**Kairi162: **You cosplay Luke!? Aww man, I always have wanted cosplay someone... And yes, looks like that Ion's slap wasn't enough. Maybe an extra slap would be good... -thinks-

**Dreamstar13:** -sends the witches away- Yeah, it would be awesome... Stupid Asch... And I had to put some angst because this isn't a humor fic. -gets weird glares- What, this isn't! And Emo-Luke is the best Emo!

**Accident Prone: **-eats shiny rainbow fish.Yeah torturing Asch is fun but Luke's torturing is even funnier! I don't know why, but when I see new pairing, I sometimes pick either one which I love to see in danger or something like that... The ukes are 'victims' almost every time. (Like in Kruan paring, I like torturing Yuan. You read 'Child's mind' where all 'bad' things happened to Yuan so you get the picture...) And because LukeAsch pairing gives me mental damages and a massive nosebleed, I torture Luke. Get it? I know that I should get help but, whatever.

**CrystalizePen: **Well, Asch didn't let Luke carry him because he has his pride. And try to imagine that. The great Asch the Bloody gets a piggyback from his replica who he hates (?). Plus Arietta was there and gods know what she would have told to Van. And of course Asch won't die! Well, maybe... Uhh... See ya! -runs away-

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss**

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"_Let me do it."_

_Luke _

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"Mommy, is something wrong?" Arietta asked worriedly. The Liger Queen was snarling, sounding angry and swinging its tail restlessly. Its gaze was at the bushes which covered the view.

"Huh? Seriously?" Arietta started to move the bushes, looking at the Liger Queen.

"What is it?" Asch asked, trying to hide how much he was in pains. Luke was walking behind of them and he hasn't said a word to the other redheaded teen which made Asch wonder was it something what he said. Arietta didn't answer to his question and kept moving the bushes in front of them until the view was clear.

"Wow!" Was all what Luke could say.

"Looks like we made it." Arietta whispered. In front of them was a huge glade and middle of it was a huge tree. A couple of child cheagles were playing in front of the tree but when they noticed the Liger Queen, they ran in the tree, screaming something in horror.

"It might be best that the beast won't come with us or those things won't let us even touch that ring..." Luke said, smirking.

"B-But mommy wouldn't hurt even a fly!" Arietta defensed the Liger Queen.

"Yeah, yeah, _we_ know that but _those_ don't." Luke rolled his eyes, pointing the tree.

"But if we let mommy come with us then they might not be afraid..."

"JUST LET THAT THING BE HERE!" Asch yelled top of his lungs, regretting it almost immediately. He started to cough furiously. But those two were always fighting and his body was like in flames. He almost regretted _that other thing_ too... But only almost.

"B-But..." Arietta shuttered but one look in Asch's eyes was enough to her to shut her mouth.

"Okay... Mommy, you stay here, okay?" Arietta sighed with an apologizing tone. The Queen sat on the ground and swung still its huge tail.

"So... What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Luke said with a cheerful tone which Asch knew was a fake. But the pains were greater and he forgot that.

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"It's kinda humid here, isn't it?" Luke asked when they had gone to inside the tree.

"Shh... I hear something!" Arietta whispered quietly. They all listened closely and soon they noticed a croup of Cheagles on the ground, watching them.

"Who... is... the elder?" Asch asked. But the Cheagles didn't answer to him. They whispered each other with their own language.

"I am." A small voice said. A old Cheagle came closer and in his hands were the Sorcerer's Ring.

"Is that the..." Luke asked, pointing the Ring.

"So this is the reason why you humans came. And that Liger too." The elder laughed. But his laugh died soon as his grip

tightened around the Sorcerer's ring.

"Why do you want this ring? Because its ability to heal every illness?" The elder asked.

"Umm... Actually, we don't know." Arietta said. It was true after all. Van had just said that they must get the Ring and that's it.

"So you're only the errand boys. But that red headed boy needs it too? I assume that it was a purple witch? I haven't seen them since I was a child... It killed my friend..." The elder muttered sadly.

"But didn't it heal every illness? Even the purple witches poison?" Luke asked confusedly but the elder shook his head.

"Yes. It heals humans illnesses. It works differently with the Cheagles. Like now, I can speak human language, thanks the ring. But humans can't speak monsters language even if they have the ring." The elder explained.

"So... Can we have it?" Luke asked. Arietta and Asch gave him a warning glare. He shouldn't speak so straight.

"Yes and no." The elder answered. All three turned to look at the elder, a wondering look in their faces.

"You can have it but you must do something in return."

"Like what?" Arietta asked, wondering.

"There has been a monster who had stolen almost all the food from us. If it keeps on stealing, we must go to the nearest village and steal food from humans and we don't want to do it so the only thing is to get rid of that beast. But we Cheagles aren't powerful and we wouldn't have a chance to win the monster. So we need some powerful creature like a.... Human."

"So you want us to kill that monster?" Luke confirmed as the elder nodded. "Sounds good to me." He continued.

"But who will fight? Asch can't fight so it must be you or me." Arietta pointed out.

"Arietta... do it... Dreck is too weak..." Asch said with all power he had. Arietta sighed, nodding. Luke sighed too, little sadly because of Asch's words. But he wanted to go away from these things. Damn their voices were annoying! And he wanted to make sure that Asch will be cured.

...But why?

Asch had tried to kill him He had never called him as 'Luke'. Only an idiot, moron, stupid and Asch's own personal favorite, the dreck. He had always said to him that he's the most useless, miserable thing on earth. A failure.

But...

Asch had been worried about him. He had apologized him and had realized his mistakes.

But would that be enough?

Asch still didn't respect him. Even if he would do everything, Asch'd see him only as a weak, stupid dreck who can't do anything expect be on a way. Even if Luke would fight with the most powerful monster in the world, Asch would see him as a weak failure.

... The most powerful monster?

"Let me do it!" Luke said which made Asch, Arietta and the elder to look at him, doubtful look in their eyes.

"What? I can do it. And after all, I am an useless and miserable replica so it's better than a mighty girl who can speak with monsters!" Luke said with a sarcasm tone. And before Asch or Arietta could say anything, Luke turned around to leave the tree.

"...Wait!" The elder shouted. He said something with the Cheagles language and one of them came closer.

"This one's name is Mieu. He'll come with you too make sure that you'll fight fair and just in case that you all will die so he can tell it to us. He is still a child but if you'll win, he'll give the ring to you." The elder said, giving the Sorcerer's Ring to Mieu.

"My name is Mieu! Nice to meet you!" The kid Cheagle said immediately. Luke grabbed Mieu's ears and lifted it in the same level as Luke's face, to study it closer.

"This thing annoys me..." He said finally, dropping the Cheagle on the ground.

"No one cares what you think about it! Let's just go and kill that thing so we get that ring!" Asch snapped. "You!" He pointed at Mieu. "Show the way to that monster!" He ordered.

"Yes sir!" Mieu said and leaded the way out of the tree, leaving his family and friends behind.

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So, after an half hour of walking (Plus convince to Mieu that the Liger Queen won't eat him) they made it in the Monster's territory. The place was next to a long and deep gorge and the trees were all ripped. A small cave lied in front of them.

"It sleeps there." Mieu pointed the cave.

"So... We wait here until it wakes up or will we wake it up ourselves?" Luke asked.

"We should wait. Monsters are twice more aggressive when somebody wakes them up." Arietta said. "Well... Of course if you want to get killed then we can woke it up!" She added with an evil tone.

"No thank you. I care about my life." Luke answered. _"Which you have stolen from Asch..."_ He added in his mind. Damn, since his conscience has started to mess his life?!

"So we wait, master?" Mieu asked.

"Yeah yeah." Luke rolled his eyes. They sat on the ground, not noticing Asch's condition. Asch was still standing, looking extremely pale.

"What do you say Asch?" Arietta asked, turning around.

"W-Whatever..." Asch said, before fainting and hitting the ground.

"Asch!" Arietta and Luke shouted in unison and rushed to him. Asch was breathing aloud, sounding painful. Arietta put her hand on Asch's forehead and gasped.

"He has fever! All that walking wasn't good... He doesn't have much time left..." She muttered.

"B-But you said something about three day!"

"He has only one day left..." Arietta muttered. "So you must win that monster quickly or you're responsible of his death!" She continued.

"Hey, it's not my fault that some stupid spider bit him!" Luke snapped, ready to start a battle.

"But you're so weak that you die or the battle continues, gods know how long and then Asch is dead!"

"Umm... M-Master..." Suddenly, Mieu tried to get attention.

"Shut up! You haven't seen me in a battle so you don't know!" Luke continued fighting with Arietta.

"Well, you lost to mommy so you are weak!"

"Your 'mommy' is a-"

"Master watch out!"

"Huh?"

A huge tail came from nowhere and almost hit Luke and Arietta but they dodged it just in time. Luke went back to get Asch from the danger and gave him to Arietta.

"Here. You guys go somewhere shelter. I take care of it." Luke ordered, taking his sword which Asch had lend to him before the mission. Luke turned around to face the monster.

"It's a... Liger?" Luke said confusedly. But it wasn't an ordinary liger. The liger in front of Luke was twice huger than the Liger Queen! And its tail was three times longer than the Liger Queen's!

"What the hell is that!" Luke yelled, avoiding the liger's attack.

"It's a liger who has expelled from its pack! Though I haven't seen so huge liger since now!" Arietta shouted from the shelter.

"Gee, thank you!" Luke shouted ironically, avoiding the liger's moves.

"Fang Blade!" Luke shouted, swinging his sword to hit the liger. But the liger just kept attacking and then finally, its tail hitted Luke's stomach.

"Gah!" All air escaped from Luke's lungs as he fell on the ground.

"Master!" Mieu shouted from the shelter.

Soon, Luke stood up, starting to charge to the liger. He jumped next to the liger and raised his sword to slice but the liger rammed Luke with its head away which caused Luke to lose his balance and losing his sword. The sword flied behind the liger who jumped on its hind legs, using is front legs to slice Luke into a two piece. Luke avoided it little too late and the liger's nails hitted in his shoulder. Not caring the pain, he tried to rush to his sword but the liger was in way. The liger used its head to ram and sending Luke into air. Luke hitted on the wall of the cave which made him gasp in pain.

"Don't lose your consciousness!" Arietta warned. She, the Liger Queen and Mieu were watching the battle behind the bushes, hoping that the liger wouldn't smell them.

"What the hell are those voices...? Are you and the dreck fighting again...?" A weak and annoyed voice came behind Arietta.

"Asch?" Arietta asked, turning around. Asch was still pale and his breathing sounded painful but he tried to stood up, using all his power.

"How many times I must say this to you, don't move." Arietta snarled annoyingly, preventing Asch to move.

"Yeah, yeah whatever.... Wait a sec, where's the dreck?" Asch asked, his eyes widening as big as they can when Arietta pointed the liger and Luke.

"He's fighting and losing." She said. Not caring the warnings which Arietta gave, Asch stood up and shouted top of his lungs, sounding really angry.

"YOU STUPID DRECK! You're the most weak and miserable creature in the world! If you lose and to something like that, I'll follow you to the hell and kick your stupid ass! Did you hear that!? If I am going to die because of you and you'll survive, I'll haunt you to rest of your life, making your life so miserable so you'll regret it the rest of your life!!" Asch yelled but ended coughing blood. It looked like the dreck was in shock.

"Asch don't! Or the liger will-" Arietta started but it was already too late. The liger was walking to them slowly.

"Don't even think about it!" Luke shouted behind the liger. He rushed to his sword quickly and soon he was standing between the liger and the others. When the liger understood that its old toy was still alive, it tried to push Luke away but this time, it didn't work.

Luke dodged it, slicing liger's rib. The liger screamed furiously, starting to chase Luke. Luke ran away from Asch and Arietta, luring the liger coming farther from them. When the liger was closer, he raised his sword to hit the liger. But the liger in a rage isn't easy opponent and it went to its hinder legs and used front legs to lean the sword with all of its weight. Luke started to panic, noticing that the sword was starting to crack into pieces.

He was going to die.

Luke wondered what would happen to Asch and Arietta. The Liger Queen'd probably fight but this beast was bigger than it. And if Arietta'd die then Asch wouldn't stood a chance.

Asch...

Luke didn't wanted Asch to die! Asch... He was a great person! Not to Luke but... Luke knew that deep inside, he was kind. It wasn't Asch's fault that Luke had stolen his life! This all was Luke's fault and he knew it. And Luke didn't want to be responsibly of Asch death after all what Luke had done to him! It wasn't Asch's fault that he yelled to Luke everyday. Asch must suffer to see him every time. Luke reminds him of Asch's family, friends and his home. He had lost everything to a failure. That's why Luke was so weak and miserable creation.

This all was his fault.

So that's why... He must protect Asch. Even if it cost Luke's own life. After all it even wasn't his. Asch can't die because...

_Because Luke loves him so much. _

A lights where gathering around Luke and the liger. The liger noticed the danger but it was too late. A couple of light hitted its stomach and the liger tried to escape.

But again, it was too late.

"You're finished!" Luke shouted in the middle of the lights. He raised his sword and continued speaking.

"Arise, resound and become the blade of destruction!" He shouted, swinging his sword quickly as the lights kept rising in the sky.

"Lost Fon Drive!" The lights hitted the liger as it screamed painfully. And then finally, the liger fell on the ground.

"...Wow." Arietta stood behind the bushes, speechless. Asch otherwise, started to walk to Luke, trying not to lose his balance.

"So you're happy now? After risking our lives you finally won that thing! Seriously dreck! If I would have battle with that thing, I'd have killed it with a one hit!" He said quietly.

"But I won it!" Luke said happily, blushing greatly after looking at Asch. Which made Asch wonder why.

"Quickly! Give that Ring to Asch!" Luke said suddenly. Mieu took the ring around his stomach and walked to Asch, raising his hands where the Ring was.

"Here you go sir!" The young Cheagle said as Asch fell on his knees and reached the Ring.

Finally...

"Asch watch out!" Suddenly Arietta shouted. Both Luke and Asch turned around, looking confused. But all what they saw was a huge liger next the gorge. It growled in rage and charged toward Luke. Luke stood there in shock, glancing his sword which was lying on the ground couple meters away.

"Idiot, move!" Asch shouted pushing Luke away just before the liger strike Luke. But instead, its head struck Asch. which send them both flying over the gorge.

"ASCH!" Was all what Asch heard before fainting and falling into nothingness.

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Finally some romance! When I started to write this chapter, I didn't even think to write that Luke's confession bu it kinda came... And when I wrote that thing where Luke counted the nice things what Asch had done to him, I had to read the whole 'Shattered Mirror' to find some nice things! And then I realized that Asch had done only two or three nice things to Luke... Which makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with Luke, loving Asch even if he's a bastard to him. It feels like I'm not writing this anymore! It write itself!

So, will Asch die when he hit the bottom? Or will the purple witches poison kill him? **OR** will the liger eat him if they both survives from the fall? And before someone asks, Arietta didn't help Luke to beat the liger because Luke refused getting any help. And the reason why I used 'Lost Fon Drive' was because its incantation is waaayyy much better than 'Radiant howl's'. And I know that the battle scene sucks but this was like, my second time when I write something like that.

Hmm... What's that other thing what Asch regret almost... Find out in the next chapter!

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_


	15. Asch's Pains IIII

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 15. Asch's Pains IIII

So, The final chapter of Asch's pains trilogy. I hope you liked it! Sorry it took long time but I had so much fun writing Lune Nova's newest chapter... Ugh, this chapter sucks but I hope that you don't mind...

**Accident Prone:** Yeah it's hard... And Asch maybe will survives... Maybe. You liked 'Child's Mind'!? -blush- Makes me happy. Of course Asch is an idiot! Lets say that... It's poison's fault. I'm glad you liked that chapter!

**Kairi162:** I wonder do you feel sorry for him after you have read this chapter...XD And I hope that you don't mind that I used that 'Idiot in love' thing in this chapter. But it was so awesome! I giggled like ten minutes after reading you review... In a good way of course but that was so cute! And sadly no. Asch doesn't regret about not telling his feelings to Luke. But that was really good guess!

**CrystallizedPen:** Yes the liger is very unlucky... And you thought that Asch'd confess? Wow... Actually, I don't have any idea when that's going to happen... Oh no! And thank you!

**Dreamstar13:** Yes Luke is awesome and Asch is an idiot. Now when you think about it, they are like a yin and yang!

**I do not ow Tales of the Abyss! **

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"_What? I just wanted to make sure that _nobody_ will kiss me. Especially you, dreck. That would be so _disgusting_!"_

_-Asch the Bloody_

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"Asch!" Was all what he heard before closing his eyes.

...Why?

Why that dreck was still calling him? With that tone? Asch has been cruel to him. He had even tried to _kill_ that idiot for god's sake! And here he was, saved by the dreck from becoming monster's meal. Almost. Well, he has saved the dreck too in this mission.

Twice, actually.

Those stupids spiders... The dreck was lucky that Asch had noticed the purple spider on the leaf near the dreck, ready to attack. Asch had been sure that he'd regret later. But no. Even now when he'd maybe die because of that bite. He'd never regret that he had pushed the dreck on the ground, away from that witch. Heh, even the dreck had thought that something was wrong. That excuse about pushing him hadn't been Asch's bests... But that bite had hurted more than he had expected! Thank god Arietta didn't suspect anything! Asch knew that Arietta'd tell everything to Van. But now, there wasn't anything 'bad' things which Arietta would report.

... Expect that Asch had pushed the dreck away from that liger's attack. Well, whatever. It wasn't his problem anymore. There wasn't a chance to survive. He just hoped that the dreck'd realize to escape before Van will kill him.

_**Splash!**_

Asch opened his eyes. Water? At the bottom of the gorge was a river? Looks like he was lucky. Now his death would be painless. He didn't have any energy to move. Only thing which he regret was all that pointless yelling towards the dreck.

He closed his eyes again as the flow moved him farther away.

- - -

"Asch!" Luke shouted in horror, watching how Asch sinked into nothingness. It'd be his fault if Asch'd die! Only if he'd have finished that liger...

"We must find the way to the bottom!" Arietta said, starting to leave the liger's territory. Asch was important to Van. She hoped that there was any chance Asch to survive. Otherwise she would be dead.

"I... I think I know the way!" Mieu said, still shaking a little.

"Well let's go!"

- - -

It took only a little time to go down the gorge. To their surprise, there was a little but deep river which leaded farther away from Cheagle woods.

"He might be still alive!" Luke clapped his hand together in joy.

"You forget that the poison has took all his energy! So he might be drowned. We must find his body at least..." Arietta muttered.

"...Fine." Luke said, turning around. "You're better not be dead before I'll tell my feelings to you." He added quietly, thinking that nobody could hear him.

But again, how wrong he was.

They followed the river, finding nothing. But after walking about a mile, the Liger Queen growled to the river, raising its every hair.

"What is it mommy?" Arietta turned to look at the river too, seeing something in the river.

"Is that the..." Luke asked, squinting his eyes to see better.

"Liger can't swim." Arietta pointed out, sounding little sad.

"Master! Is that your friend over there?" Luke and Arietta both turned to look at the direction where Mieu was pointing at. Across the river, a little farther away from the liger's body was a tree and group of rocks. The tree was small but its branches were long and they reached to the river. The rocks created a circle around the tree, blocking the view pretty good. But Luke and Arietta saw a familiar boot between two rocks.

"Asch!" Arietta gasped.

"We must go there!" Luke panicked. Glancing around to see something bridge like thing.

"How? I didn't see anything which we could cross the river!"

"...Wasn't there a little reef when we walked to here? What if we'd jump rock to rock, using those rocks as a bridge!" Luke suggested.

"B-But mommy can't swim!"

"Boo hoo, not my problem! I'll cross the river with nor without you and your help!" And so, Luke turned around and ran farther away, leaving unsure Arietta behind. The Liger Queen growled next to her which made her gasp.

"But mommy! You can't swim!" The Liger Queen growled again, sounding little frustrate.

"...Fine." Arietta sighed, following Luke's footsteps

- - -

At the same time, Luke was trying to estimating could he jump from rock to rock.

"Here goes nothing..." He muttered to himself, running to the nearest rock and jumped. But when he landed on the rock, his foot slipped, losing his balance.

"Uh-oh..." The redhead said, facing the cold water. He closed his eyes, waiting to feel the water. But when the time went, he opened them, confusedly. He was still in same position but something was stopping him to fall.

"You idiot! Move or I'll drop you!" A voice behind him snarled. Luke swung himself on he rock, turning around to see his savior. To his surprise, it was a girl with a pink hair with the black clothes.

"You... Saved me?" Luke asked dumbly.

"Well, yeah! But don't thank me! Mommy suggested it!" Arietta snarled again, pointing the Liger Queen who sat on the shore. Luke remained on the rock, staring the Liger Queen as Arietta crossed the river.

"Are you coming or not!" Arietta shouted from the shore across the river which got Luke come to reality. He nodded and jumped from rock to rock. Now successfully.

- - -

When Luke reached the shore, they ran to the tree and Asch, Mieu with them.

"Asch!" Luke shouted, falling on his knees next to Asch. Asch was in a horrible condition. His face was paler than ever and the look on his face was horrible to watch. And he didn't breath.

"The ring!" Luke grabbed Mieu and took the ring from him. Luke placed it with a shaking hands on Asch finger. A white light surrounded Asch's body and a warm wind blew on them. But Asch's appearance didn't chance much. His face got little color but he didn't breath.

"He isn't breathing..." Arietta bit her lip. After all this trouble Asch'd still die?! Van'll be angry...

"Wait! I think that Guy told me what to do if something like this would happen... He said something about... CPR...?" Luke recalled, blushing. They sat in a silence, staring at dying Asch.

"What are you waiting for? I'm sure you know what to do?" Luke muttered to Arietta.

"What, me?! No no, you do it!" Arietta protested.

"You're a girl! It would be weird if I'd do it..." Luke muttered sadly. Maybe it would be best if Asch'd never find out about his feelings. It was weird that Luke loved him. They were both guys. A original and a replica. It would be... disgusting. It was like he loves his reflection. Or maybe it was some kind of love what replicas felt towards their originals? Maybe it wasn't love after all? But... They were both so difference! Like black and white!

...No. Even if he tried to think it in that way, it didn't work. It didn't matter even if they were so different. They _were_ the original and the replica. They were those in past. They are those now and in future until the death. And there was nothing which would change it. And Asch... What would he think?! Asch hated him. He maybe had changed his mind about Luke a little but still! Luke was an idiot...

He was an idiot in love.

Love... Luke had never been in love. Sure he has a fiancée, Natalia but he met her only a few times. And when he had met her... Well, when he met her first time, Natalia had pointed him and shouted that he wasn't Luke. And then she had cried hours. Maybe that's why the Duke didn't let him meet her many times. Because she had suspected. Luke remembered how the maids had gossiped about him and Natalia. They had said that before the kidnap, Luke and Natalia had been so close. That it had been a young love...

Luke felt something nasty in his chest. Was he jealously? To Natalia? What if Asch still loves her? What if he missed her? What if that was the main reason why Asch hated Luke so much? Because he had stolen his first love? What if... He still wants to marry her? Luke had to admit that it was possible. Natalia was beautiful and a kind person. And she had always harped about a promise which she and Asch had made. What if Asch still wanted to fulfill that promise?

No!

Now when Luke think about it... Asch had never said a word about Natalia. How she was doing or was she even still alive? Maybe he had even forgotten that stupid promise...

0-1 to Luke.

"Are you listening me?" Suddenly, Arietta's voice snapped Luke back to reality.

"Huh?" He asked.

"...I said that you're his replica. You should save him!"

"But I'm a guy!"

"And his replica!"

"I'm getting sick about that 'because you're his replica' excuse!"

"But you _are_!"

"... So that is what I am and what I'll be the rest of my life, huh? You and that idiot will always look down me. If my duty as a replica is saving _his_ ass then why in the hell he saves _my_ ass! And you too! You could have let me fall on that rock but you saved me! And still you keep saying because I'm a worthless replica who doesn't deserve to live and still you won't let me get killed! What the hell is going on in your heads?!" Luke shouted. Finally he got a chance to shout everything from his chest.

"Because you're so worthless that even the death would reject you, dreck!" A voice next to Luke snarled which made Arietta and Luke startle.

"Asch?!" Arietta gasped, looking at the redheaded teen who rose to a sitting position.

"Cat got your tongue, huh? You gotta guts calling me an idiot when I'm unconscious but when I have woken up then you don't say anything? You're a coward." Asch continued, glaring at his replica's back of the head. The dreck was sitting next to him but he had turned around , showing his back to Asch and hiding his face. What the hell was going on in that idiot's mind right now?! Wait, why Asch even cared?

At the same time, Luke was staring at the river. He was fighting back the tears and tried to resist a huge urge to hug his original. Asch was alive. And it was so close that Luke had lost him. So close...

"How did you...?" Arietta asked, broking the silence between two redheads.

"Could breath again? The ring's effect took awhile but when I could breath, I heard the dreck's voice. He said something about CPR..." Asch said, resisting a urge to smirk to Arietta's face and to the sound which the dreck made. And to Asch's surprise, the dreck turned finally to look at him, mouth open and with an angry expression.

"You were awoke since then!? I almost... You... Kiss... Y-You idiot!" Luke shouted the last part with a really high-pitched voice.

"What? I just wanted to make sure that _nobody_ will kiss me. Especially you, dreck. That would be so _disgusting_!" Asch said, still glaring at Luke and saw something weird. Even tough the dreck's mouth was still open, Asch saw something in his eyes for a moment. Was it... Pain?

"Heh, you're right. But hey, what are we waiting for?! Asch is all right and we killed the beast. So now we can have the ring and go back!" Luke said, turning back to look at the young cheagle. "So give it to us!"

"Umm... The elder ordered me to say this to you but... The ring loses its power if a cheagle isn't near it..."

"What?" Arietta asked.

"You do know that the humans gave it to cheagles. Well, they made a spell too that if a human stole it from us, then it's just a normal ring but if a cheagle is near its power comes back. So I must come with you."

"...Fine. I wonder what _he'll_ say about this..." Asch sighed. They all stood up, ready to leave the cheagle woods. Asch glanced the quiet replica. The dreck was acting weird. Normally, the dreck asked who was _he_. But now he just stood there quietly.

...Was is something what Asch said?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

End of the Asch's pains trilogy! Next time we see what Ion and Sync did when Asch and Luke were in the cheagle woods! And a new character makes a comeback too!

And just in case that somebody didn't understand but do you remember in 'Asch's Pains I' when Asch pushed Luke on the ground without a good reason? So if you didn't get it, the reason was that Asch saw a purple witch on a leaf and it was ready to attack so Asch protected Luke!

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_


	16. The Masked One

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 16. The masked one

I have a feeling that I'm messing again the character's back stories... And Sync is extremely Ooc in this chapter... Well at the end at least. And I just realized that I love torturing Sync... This fic will make me crazier than I was before! And the reason why this was so late was that I'm extremely in love with this chapter that I didn't want to finish it! And I had to watch many TotA videos to find out what Anise's parents looked like... And this is over ten pages long!

Now, beware a four years old Jade! Nah, just kidding... Or am I? And I can't write little children's way to talk. My English teacher hadn't taught that in my school. So... try to imagine him/her to talk like a four years old, okay?

**Fathskie: **Hmm... Yeah, It doesn't make any sense but here is some of my theories. But first I say that I kinda forgot that how fast Guy is... But it's because I don't even have the game because it was never released in Europe. But here is my explanations!

In this fic, Guy's past isn't so traumatic and he came to the Duke's mansion because he was an orphan so the place was his home. So he too paralyzed. I hope that you get the picture.

Other explanation is that even though he was an orphan, he is Luke's babysitter and a best friend. So, imagine that you and your best friend and his/her mom are going to their house and you notice that it's burning. Which one you're worried about more? Your best friend who is really close to you or his/her mother who you seen seldom? And besides, Luke scares fire in this fic, (you'll soon find out why) And Luke's mother is the Duchess and Guy spends like all his free time with Luke. So his first reaction was probably that he went to comfort Luke. I hope that this helped!

**Kairi162:** You were helpful! Seriously! I giggled like a crazy after writing that part. In a good way of course but it was just so... Cute. And Asch is an idiot. He was an idiot in pain!

**Accident Prone: **Asch is having mood swings... Or maybe he tries to reject the feelings which he has towards Luke! Ion slapping Sync again? Wasn't it Asch? Oh well, after this chapter, I'm pretty sure that Ion wouldn't do that to poor Sync.

**Dreamstar13: **Oh no, Mieu won'tannoy Luke and Asch! Maybe a little but did you forget who send them into that forest? And who wanted that ring?

**CrystallizedPen:** That CPR thing might happens later... And you don't have any idea how much I loved writing this chapter. And it's okay! Babbling nonsense is awesome!

**El-Xo:** ...I don't know where to start. You just made my day when I checked my e-mail. And if you love Sync that much, I hope that you like this chapter! And you could make a shirt where is _shirtless_ Sync! -Nosebleed-

**If you don't remember Ion's past then please go to read the chapter 10. The past! **It's helps you to understand this chapter better.

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_You... came back!"_

_Anise Tatlin_

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sync didn't understand this. Why? Why was he here? Has Van finally lost it?

He pushed the branches away. Cursed Cheagle Woods... Why in the world Van has sent him here? Asch and Arietta were here too. After that Sorcerer's ring which Van wanted. But Van had ordered him to go in some village near the forest.

Sync recalled every word which Van had said. He had a bad feeling about this.

- - -

"_You has something to me?" Sync asked, entering to Van's room. Van turned to look at him, smirking after noticing it was Sync._

"_Yes. I have a mission to you." He said. _

"_Mission?" _

"_Yes. I want you go to Engeve. That farming village near the Cheagle Woods. Now."_

"_But... Aren't Asch and Arietta in Cheagle Woods? Why I must go there when they are so close that place?" _

"_Because I want you to go there. They have an another mission to do. I don't want to drown them into works." Van still smiled. _

"_...Whatever. What you want me to do?"_

"_There is a couple who has something... Interesting things. And I want those 'things'."_

"_What things?"_

"_Not your problem."_

"_... Fine."_

"_Just say that you want to know about Project Sunrise."_

"_Project Sunrise?" Sync asked. It sounded familiar... Getting only a nod as an answer. He turned to leave but remembered to ask something._

"_And who is that couple?" _

"_Tatlin."_

_- - -_

Project Sunrise... It sounded so familiar. But where has he heard it? He crossed a tiny river, wondering. Not only this mission but another odd thing was Ion's reaction.

- - -

"_What he wanted?" asked Ion when Sync came back to his room._

"_A new mission." Sync sighed, slumping on the armchair. Ion was on the bed, staring out of the window but turned to look at Sync._

"_What kind of mission?" Ion asked._

"_I must go to Engeve, get some information about 'Project Sunrise' from some couple who name is Tatlin..." Sync answered. The odd thing about Ion was that he got Sync to speak openly about everything. Well, almost. Sync hadn't spoken about his 'childhood'. And there was a good reason why. He couldn't remember it. He had forgotten it. But he was pretty sure that he wouldn't want to know too. He had a proof about that._

_But Ion's reaction was something what Sync didn't expect. Ion's skin turned pale and his eyes widened. _

"_What?" Sync asked but Ion didn't answer. He bit his lip and stared at the ground, trying clearly to come up with something._

"_I'm getting impatient here!" Sync snarled. _

"_C-Can I come with you?" Ion answered finally, avoiding Sync's question. _

"_No." Sync answered simply, realizing that Ion wouldn't answer to his question. He quickly left the room before Ion could say something else, heading to Engeve. Too bad that he forgot to lock his room. And soon, Ion left the room and followed Sync, worriedly look on his face._

_- - - _

And now he was , almost. Stupid forest...

Suddenly, he stopped walking. He heard something. Somebody was... Crying? And Sync didn't hear only crying. A growling sound came from the same direction. Without thinking, he followed the voices, wondering why. Since when he had cared what happens around him?

He moved a couple of bushes away, revealing a surprising scene.

A gray and black wolf like a monster was standing there. But the thing which was surprising was a young girl, probably three or four years old. She had a tanned skin and black hair in two pigtails. She sat on the ground and hugged her weird catlike plushie like it would save her and cried aloud. She tried to crawl farther away from the monster but flinched in pain. Sync looked at her ankle and saw that it was bleeding.

Sync stood at the behind of the bushes, thinking what he would do. Should he save her? Or let her die, like he had always done. Why he should care about other people? They didn't care about him so why he should care about them?

Sync turned around, walking away. He saw in a corner of his eye that the monster was walking closer the girl.

"MAMA, PAPA! HELP ME!" The girl shouted behind of Sync. He stopped walking, remembering something.

_You're alone in this world..._

Sync grabbed his hair. Who? Who had said that to him? Only if he could remember... He listened the girl's crying a moment before turning again around, running to the girl and the monster. Since when he had been so soft hearted?

- - -

Sync came just in time. The monster was in a attacking position, ready to jump on the girl. Then it started to ran to the girl. It jumped, revealing its sharp teeth and...

_Crack!_

The girl sat on the ground, watching in horror how Sync came behind the bushes, jumping on the monster and placed monster's head between his legs, broking its neck. And so, the monster fell on the ground just a couple of meters before the girl. She shrieked in horror, watching the monster's empty eyes. She cried even more and hugged her plushie even harder.

"Stop crying for god's sake! That monster is dead so why are you still crying like a helpless baby?" Sync snarled. The girl stopped crying, staring at Sync. She wiped the tears away, never stopped looking at Sync which made him uncomfortably. Then finally, after studying each other faces, the girl started smile.

"Big bro!" She yelled, giggling happily.

"Excuse me?" Sync asked, after staring at the girl like she was crazy.

"You... came back!" She said, forgetting Sync's question. She tried to stood up but fell on her knees, crying little.

"It hurts!" She pointed her wounded ankle. Sync sighed and went to the girl. He touched her ankle, making her flinch.

"It isn't broken." He said simply. Then suddenly, the girl reached her hands, touching Sync's mask. Just before the girl took it, Sync slapped her hands away in horror.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" He yelled, making the girl cry again. He made sure that the mask still hide half of his face before trying to calm the girl.

"Look, I'm sorry but don't touch this!" He pointed his mask. "Believe me, it's better to both of us." He muttered. And soon, the girl stopped crying and smiled like nothing had happened.

"Big bro came home!" She yelled, touching Sync's hair, instead of his mask. "Why big bro's hair is like this? Why you have that mask? Where did you get those clothes? You said that you hate black! And why are you so strong? You said that you can't beat any monster? And where have you been? Mama and Papa had been soooo worried about you!" She questioned, making Sync wonder did she hit her head or something.

"Look brat. I don't know what the hell are you talking about but I'm not your brother!" He glared at the girl.

"I'm not a brat! I'm four years old!" She pouted. "And you are my big bro! You have the same voice! And hair color! Did you forget me?" Her eyes started to get teary again. "Did you forget Anise?" She muttered.

Sync sighed. He kinda felt sorry for the girl. Without realizing, he grabbed the girl's hands and lifted her from the ground. He turned around and put the girl on his shoulders.

"Do you know where your home is?" Sync asked, wondering since when he had been so soft hearted.

"Small house near the village." She answered happily, hugging Sync's neck.

"Fine. And stop hugging me!" He snarled.

Since when he had been so soft hearted?

- - -

"That is my home!" Anise pointed a small house. The house was small, simple and make of wood. But the thing which caught Sync's attention was sign in the next the house's door.

_'Tatlin' _

"_The brat is their daughter!? Two birds with one stone." _Sync thought as Anise called her parents. A middle aged woman and man came from the house.

"Anise!?" The woman, probably her mother cried and ran to Sync and Anise. Her husband took Anise from Syncs shoulders, hugging his daughter. His wife joined with him too and cried.

"Where have you been?! I was so worried about you?" Anise's mother almost yelled.

"I'm okay mama! And guess what? Big bro came back! He saved me from a mean monster!" Anise giggled, pointing at Sync. Finally, Anise's parents realized that there was somebody else and turned to look at the masked boy.

"Oh how I can ever thank you of saving my daughter!?" Anise's mother came to Sync and hugged him, making him to freeze.

"W-Well, there is something I need to ask about you..." Sync muttered, lowering his voice.

"Oh you can ask anything for saving our daughter! And my name is Pamela. But first, let's go inside."

- - -

The house only had three rooms One larger and two really small rooms. Pamela waved him to sit on a palliasse which wasn't comfortable.

"So what do you want to ask, sweetie?" Pamela asked, making Sync to frown. She sat on a old chair and Anise climbed on her lap.

"Do you have any information about project Sun-"

"OH MY GOD, you're wounded!" Pamela yelled suddenly, pointing Sync's left hand. Sync lowered hi gaze to his hand. There was only a small cut on his wrist which bled a little. Sync wondered when did he get this? Probably the monster had bit him or something.

"It's nothing. I wanted to ask about-"

"No, no, no boy. That kind of wounds can be deadly if you don't take care of it!" Anise's father said. Pamela rushed to a other room and came back soon, holding a small first aid kit. She rushed to Sync ,taking his glove off. Sync got a bad feeling about this. Like he had forgotten something...

"_Oh shit!"_ He turned pale when he remembered.

But it was too late. Pamela noticed it too. She dropped the kit on the ground gasping air.

"O-Oliver!" She shouted her husband's name. And soon he came to his wife.

"What's wrong?" He asked but paled when Pamela pointed Sync's hand.

_R005F._

Those words and numbers had branded into Sync's skin and flesh.

"Six and half years ago..." Pamela muttered, looking at Sync's face.

"Project Sunrise..." Oliver whispered, stepping couple steps away from Sync.

"Mama? Papa? What's wrong?" Anise asked but nobody listened her.

Sync otherwise was paralyzed. He started to remember where he had heard that name. Pamela was stepping closer to Sync, reaching her hands to Sync's face.

"Number five." Pamela placed her hands on the mask, before Sync could react.

"A failure." She whispered, trying to pull the mask away from Sync.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"PAMELA DON'T!" Two voice shouted in unison, making Pamela to take her hands off before Sync would kill her. They all turned to look at the front door. Sync`s mouth opened when he noticed that Ion was standing there. He had scratches all over his face and he was panting loudly.

"BIG BRO!" Anise shouted, rushing to Ion and hugged him tightly.

"Hey Anise!" Ion smiled and petted her hair. "Have you been a good girl?"

"Uh huh! And guess what, I'm four years old now!" Anise said happily.

"Really?! Oh yeah, your birthday was a couple days ago... I'm sorry that I wasn't there..." Ion muttered.

"That's okay! And look what I got!" Anise gave her plushie to Ion.

"This is great! Have you given him a name yet?" Ion gave the plushie back to Anise who shook her head.

"No. I just don't know what kind f name he wants..." Anise muttered.

"Ion! W-Where have you been!? Are you okay?" Pamela walked to the boy.

"I'm okay Pamela." Ion avoided the first question. "I'm sorry Sync that I followed you..." Ion apologized to the other teen. Gaining only a short nod. Sync's head had started to hurt. As Pamela and Oliver asked thousands of question to Ion, nobody did notice how Sync grabbed his hair to get the pain away.

"Seriously Pamela, I'm okay. You don't need to worry about-" Ion cut his phrase when a loud crash came from Syn's direction. The masked boy had fallen from the palliasse on the ground, hitting the chair.

"Sync!" Ion shouted as Sync closed his eyes, meeting the darkness.

- - -

_Sync opened his eyes._

_Where... Was he? Sync glanced around but all what he saw was darkness. Then suddenly, an old fireplace appeared from nothing. Noticing that something was on the fireplace, Sync stood up, going closer it. He noticed that he had to stood on his tiptoes to see what it was on the fireplace. _

"_That's weird. I thought that I was taller..." He wondered aloud, not caring about it though. He looked up on the fireplace. An old photograph. He stared at the photo. There was a young boy with a man, probably his father. The man had a small and black beard and mustached. He was probably around forty or fifty. He was smiling at the boy and his left hand was on the boy's shoulder. The boy was smiling too. He was young boy, about four or five years old in the picture. His short hair was in mess and he smiled brightly. Sync was sure that he had seen that picture somewhere before..._

_But where?_

_The fireplace started to flame suddenly, making Sync to back up from it. He heard voices behind of him and turned around, seeing nothing._

"_You should have never been born! You worthless piece of shit!" An angry voice shouted._

_A pair of hands appeared from nowhere and pushed Sync to the fireplace. As he fell on the fireplace, those angry words echoed in his mind._

_He was worthless._

_- - -_

"Sync!" A familiar voice shouted his name. Sync opened his eyes, seeing only one face. The same face as that boy... The boy smiled in relief when he noticed that Sync has opened his eyes. The boy has the same smile too. The same hair and eyes. They were the same. The boy who shouts Sync´s name and the boy in that picture.

But why it hurts so much to watch them?

"Sync! Are you okay?" Ion asked. Sync rose in a sitting position, looking around. Why he was on the floor?

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." Sync muttered. The headache was coming back.

"I-I must ask about those 'things' which Van wanted..." Sync muttered, not wanting to meet Tatlins. He tried to stood up but Ion stopped him, putting his hand on Sync's chest..

"Don't worry about those. I asked about those and they thought that Van must want their old reports. They're here." Ion gave him a pile of paper. Sync just stared at them, not wanting to touch them.

"Good. I must go now. Goodbye." Sync slapped Ion's hand away and stood up slowly. Not noticing first Ion's confusedly face

"...What?" Sync asked after seeing Ion's face.

"Goodbye?" Ion asked innocently.

"This is your family, right? You should stay here." Sync went to the door and opened it. He was just going outside when Ion rushed to him and slammed the door shut.

"And leave you in that condition? You _fainted_! And I could see that you were in pains! And besides, Van would kill you! After going all that trouble by getting me there in vain! I think that he would kill you even now when I followed you..." Ion shouted hysterically, never wanting to slap somebody so badly.

"I don't... wanna lose you..." He muttered in the end, tears forming in his eyes and made Sync into a panic. He didn't know what to do. Should he hug Ion? Or kiss him? Nobody had said anything like that to him ever! What he should do?!

...Wait a sec.

Did he just think about _kissing _Ion!? Did he hit his head or something?

After convincing to himself that those thought were because of the headaches, Sync opened the door and rushed outside before Ion could react.

"What? Are you coming or not?!" Sync snarled at outside, hoping that Ion wouldn't notice that he was blushing madly.

After staring at Sync's red face Ion wiped his eyes and nodded, running after Sync.

- - -

"Sync are you really okay?" Ion asked worriedly. They had walked about an hour in the forest and Sync's condition was getting worse. He was pale and dizzy. The headaches where worse than earlier.

"Y-Yeah. I-I'm okay..." Sync tried to convince Ion but almost tripped in his foot at the same time.

"No you aren't! We should have stayed in Pamela's and Oliver's house!" Ion helped Sync to stood up, taking Syn's arm and swung it on Ion's shoulder.

"Hell no! I won't step in that house even though my life would depend on it!" Sync snarled. Thanks to those people, his memories were getting back. And he did not want them.

"...You know that we are talking about the family who raised me..." Ion muttered himself, thinking that Syn didn't hear him.

"At least you had a family..." Sync answered angrily, starling Ion. They kept walking in a uncomfortable silence.

"Listen I-" Sync started.

"I have something for you." Ion said, taking something out of his pocket. He gave it to Sync who stared at it. It was a piece of paper.

"Pamela asked me to give this to you and she had a message."

"A message?"

"She wanted me to say... I'm sorry." Ion sighed, never gaining Sync's attention. He was staring at the paper. It was an old letter. He opened it carefully. The handwriting was probably woman's. He read it as they kept walking but stopped after reading couple of phrases.

"What's wrong?" Ion asked worriedly as Sync's face paled and his body started to shake.

Sync didn't answer to Ion. He read the letter many times, repeating some words and phrases.

_He found out._

_Took him away._

_Mad._

_Kill him._

_Never see again._

"Sync!" Ion shouted as Sync fell on his knees and grabbed his hair, closing his eyes like it would help to get the pain away. Many visions came into his head and he heard voices. Almost... Suddenly, he put his hand under his mask, on his right eye. He felt _it_. It was like...

...Burning.

Sync opened his eyes. Like the time has stopped around him. The pain were gone.

But he remembered.

- - -

Ion was bored, curious and worried. He and Sync had came back to the base and he was so worried about the masked teen. After he had read the letter and fallen on the ground, he didn't speak to Ion. And he had teared the letter into a small pieces. And when they had came to the base, Sync had only ordered Ion to go to his room. Or actually, he had dragged Ion to his room and tossed him inside and slammed the door and locket it.

No good.

Ion was sitting on the bed, watching how the rain hit on the window on the the roof. What Sync was doing now? He thought that he had gone to give that report to Van but it has been three hours! Where was h-

The door slammed open and a really wet Sync came in.

"Oh my god Sync!? Are you okay? Take those clothes away or you might catch a serious cold! I can light the fireplace if you-" Ion panicked, standing up and tried to rush to the fireplace but Sync stopped him.

"No. Don't..." Sync started grabbing Ion's arm.

"What are you talking about?! Just let me light that-"

"Please..." Sync begged which made Ion stop talking. Sync's voice sounded so... Weird. Like he was in pain.

After making sure that Ion wouldn't light the fireplace, Sync released Ion's arm and walked to the armchair but never sat on it. They were both quiet until Ion broke it.

"You know... They say that it helps to talk about it..." Ion said softly, waiting the answer. After a long silence Sync started to talk.

"After I was created and saved by that fire, couple of scientist took me in their home. They were a couple and the wife couldn't get pregnant so they kinda adopted me. They taught me how to talk and walk, all those basic things. But when I was one year old, a man came to our house. My foster parents tried to keep him away from me but one day, he came and took me with him. -The letter was about that-.

The man took me to Daath with him. He told me that he had just moved there because his old house had burned. Well, his house was a mansion. I started living there. I thought that he was a nice man, hell I even loved him as a my father. He showed me many pictures about him and his son. When I asked who that boy was, he said that it was me. But the truth is, that the boy in those pictures wasn't me. It was... Our original..." Sync started, starting shake a little.

"So, I lived with the man who wanted a replica by his dead son. But when he told me that I was his son, I was so happy. Every evening, we watched the old pictures about him and our original. He told stories about them... But when I asked why I didn't remember those times, he told me that somebody took me away from him and brainwashed me.. And I thought that the scientist were the ones who stole me from my 'father'. And I started to hate them. I lived like that three years, never thinking that something was wrong. But when I turned four, 'father' wanted to invite his family and all. And I didn't know any of them. And they all talked about my 'past'. It made me think why I didn't remember those things. And one of my 'aunts' noticed the brand on my hand... She almost fainted but my 'father' told her that my 'kidnappers' must had done that to me. All those things bothered me so much that I saw a nightmare at that night. Well, no a nightmare but it was how I was... created... I told about that to 'father' next evening when we watched those pictures again. It was my worst mistake in my life. After I had told about it, he stared at me like he would see me first time. His expression was so horrible. First, he was in horror, then he was disgusted and finally, the angry. He tossed the album on the ground and took my hand where the brand was. After he had studied a few minutes, he turned to look at me and... and asked who am I. And when I answered that I was his son, he slapped me on the floor, shouting that I wasn't his son. I tried to say that I was but he didn't listen. He walked in a circle and muttered to himself. He asked where was his son and I tried to say that I was his son again but he slapped me again, saying that his son didn't had that brand. I'm sure that after he burned his old house he started to believe that his son was still alive but somebody had kidnapped him. And the first replica why he'd find would be his son. And after he found me, he repeated to himself that I was his son and finally started to believe that. He was broken mentally. He was mad. In the letter's writer had been sure that after he stops believing that I was his son, he'd kill me. Well, he tried that. But first he yelled to me and broke any furnitures which got in his way. He shouted that I was... Worthless and that I shouldn't even exist... I was just a failure replica of his son. That I killed his son and it was my fault that he wasn't there. Then he grabbed my neck and tried to choke me but I took a poker and... stabbed him. His grip on my neck loosened but he... pushed me into the fireplace where the flames lighted the room and..." Sync took his mask away, turning to look at Ion and made him gasp in horror.

Sync's right half of his face was covered by a horrible burn, reaching his nose and cheek. His right eye was half open, showing a white and hollow pupil. Ion could see Sync's veins under the burned skin.

"Not pretty, I know." Sync muttered sadly, noticing Ion's appalled face. He knew that Ion would hate him after this. After all, he was disgusting and worthless creature who shouldn't have even been born, like he father had said.

"I ran away from the mansion and started a new life on a street but with a face like this it wasn't easy. But I learned martial arts and how to survive. Even though I tried to make a suicide sometimes... But then, Van came to me. He said that he likes my fighting skill and asked me to join him. I don't know what made me to join him but here I am. He gave me this mask and I started to live here but... My past followed me. I-I killed our original's father! H-He would hate me too! I-I took his place and killed his father... J-Just like Asch's replica did! So I tried to commit a suicide, again. I drank a poison but it didn't kill me but it removed my memories... until today..." Sync ended his story, shaking. He tried to fight back tears. He wouldn't start to cry in front of Ion! He didn't want look weak. He was strong...

Suddenly, a hand placed on Syncs shoulder. He turned around, seeing Ion soft face. Ion reached his hand, touching the burn and kissed Sync's burned eye softly, making Sync flinch. Ion wrapped his hands around Sync, whispering in his ear.

"It's okay to cry." He whispered.

And first time in his life, Sync fell on his knees and let the tears roll down his cheeks and cried like a little baby.

And first time in his life, he thought that maybe after all, he wasn't so worthless.

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This was maybe my best chapter ever...

Oh, and if somebody didn't get it why Sync needed to rose on his tiptoes was because he was younger. Ad R005F means Replica number five failure.

I'm so gonna draw that part where Ion hugs Sync and Sync cries! Just wait and see! -takes a tissue-

Sync: ....

Rag Doll-Kun: Sync! What are you doing here!?

Sync: How dare you burn my ultra beauty face like that! My poor, handsome face... -cries-

Rag Doll-Kun: W-Wait a sec. You're not Sync!

Fake Sync: That's right. -A flying armchair comes from the sky and the fake Sync sat on it-

Rag Doll-Kun: -Gasp- It's Dist!

Fake Sync/Dist: That's right! -Undress Sync's costume and wig-

Rag Doll-Kun: What are you doing here?!

Dist: Just telling to readers that my show time is coming soon!

Rag-Doll-Kun: -Flips 'Fics of doom' notebook- He's right!

Dist: We'll see soon! -Flies away, laughing maniacally-


	17. Withered Rose

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 17. Withered Rose

Yay I'm fifteen years old now! And because of that, I tried to write a long chapter though it isn't so long than the last chapter. But thanks to that chapter, my wrist hurt many days... It was painful to write that chapter physically but mentally I loved every single moment. And now we even will meet an old face too! And again, sorry the lateness of this chapter. I had an interesting writer's block... I knew _what_ I was going to write but I didn't know _how_!

And I dedicate this chapter to my three friends who were crazy enough to sang a birthday song to me, waking probably the whole apartment building... And gave an idea to this chapter! This is to you guys and thank you!

**Accident Prone: **I loved it too! And I think that I can't torture them in every chapter... The mental damages would be... Pretty awful. Lol, if Ion would slap every person who he would see... Slapping master Ion!

**El-xo: **I have an obsession about making scar like that to the characters. Pamela and Oliver aren't Sync's got the letter from his parents. And about Luna Nova... I wrote the chapter but I am NOT happy about it. It will come soon.

**CrystallizedPen: **-Blush- Thank you so much! You made my day even better! Yeah, it would be kinda annoying if Ion would just ask 'hey why you reacted like that´?' and Sync would just answer 'Well when I was kid...'... And that would be so ooc. Though Sync crying like a baby is too but whatever...

**Dreamstar13: **-Gasp- Really!?You have started to like it because of this fic?! Holy s- I'm so happy! And torturing game characters is great!

**Warning!:** hints of AschNatalia! (Please don't kill me!) and JadeDist! And character's death! Well, kinda... Oh boy...

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_...How?"_

_- Dist the Reaper/Rose/ Runner_

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"Here." A familiar voice said behind of Van.

Van turned around just in time to see a golden object flying across the room to him. He quickly caught the object in mid-air and closed it in his fist. He turned to look at the person who had thrown the object. The person was leaning his back against the wall and had crossed his arms, looking at Van.

"Asch? Where have you been? Arietta came to tell the report hours ago and said that you came too. With that replica of yours..." Van muttered the last phrase. The report was a disappointment to him. According it, Asch didn't do anything which would refer about saving Luke.

"I was busy." Asch snarled but inside, he was smirking. Arietta promised that she wouldn't say anything about how Asch saved the dreck from the liger, sacrificing himself. Or Asch would tell to Van that Arietta saved the moron from the river. (The dreck told this to Asch after leaving the woods).

"But you should open your hand before you broke the ring." Asch pointed at Van's fist. Carefully, Van opened it, revealing a big golden ring.

"My, thank you Asch. You can go now." Van smiled, placing the ring on his table to study it more, not noticing yet that Asch didn't move from his position.

"I said that you can go now." Van pointed out, after he noticed that the teen didn't leave his room but nothing happened. And he could swear that he saw a smirk on Asch's lips.

"Looks like you didn't know, eh? The cheagles told us that the ring doesn't have any power if a cheagle isn't near it. So..." Asch took something what was behind his legs and threw it to Van. The older man caught it just in time, a confused look on his face as he lifted his hand, seeing a young cheagle in sleep, a rope wrapping around its belly.

"Its name is Mieu and when it is near the ring, it can talk so... have fun." Asch said, leaving the room and left the confused Van with a fainted cheagle.

- - -

"So... how did it go?" Luke asked, raising his head as he heard how Asch stepped to his room.

"He took it." The other red head answered.

"Good. Though I feel little sorry for Mieu... Your boss doesn't sound like a nice guy." Luke muttered to himself, falling into a silence and stared at the wall. But Asch knew better.

"_Three, two one..."_

"Who is your boss anyway?"

"_Bingo."_

Asch sighed, rubbing his forehead. They have talked about this subject many, _many_ times! Why in the Daath's name it didn't get into the dreck's head that Asch can't say a word about Van. Why that moron didn't give up?!

"Not your business! Now, sleep!" Asch ordered, pointing the corner of his room which was now Luke's sleeping place and gained a glared from Luke. But Luke obeyed, grumbling that he isn't a dog under his breath. He sat on the ground, leaning his back against the wall and closed his eyes and soon, fell in a deep slumber. Asch was reading his book but forgot it when his eyes kept staring at the sleeping dreck.

His replica...

... Was an idiot! Seriously! Why was he always protecting Asch?! He hadn't done almost anything nice to the moron! (And the nice things he had done secretly!) He had almost killed his replica when they met first time! And the dreck's face wasn't even full healed from that maul which Asch had done to him! The idiot has still couple of bruises on his face. And he knew that Asch hates him! Yes, he hates that worthless, stupid, thoughtless, childish, piece of shit replica! He had taken his family, friends and home! Everything! Oh god, Asch hates him so much...

...Or did he?

There was something... Something about that replica. Something that even Asch couldn't describe into words. He just wanted to protect that dreck. His feelings towards the moron changed when they where at Mt. Roneal. His face when he asked about Asch childhood... When he told to Asch that the Duke hated him... All what Asch wanted to do was wrapping his hands around the dreck and keep him close... What the hell that meant?! Asch hadn't felt like this since... Since...

Since Natalia.

... Natalia?

Oh god, Natalia! Asch had almost forgot her! She probably was beautiful now... Well, she had always been like a beautiful flower. And kind. And she loved her kingdom more than anything else. Asch had been in love with her as a child. Everybody thought that they were so cute together. And they were happy. Hell, Natalia was her first and last girl who had kissed him! But... What that does mean? Asch had loved Natalia so why he had these feelings towards the dreck? Because, there is no way that he would _love_ his replica! No. It has to be something else. And Asch would find out what.

Suddenly, he interrupted his thoughts and blinked as he heard something. Somebody was... Moaning? And he other person in his room was...

Asch looked at his replica. The dreck was switching his positions every other second and made some noises like moans. Asch stood up, going to the other teen and fell on his knees, looking at the Luke's face. The dreck's expression was painful and he kept swinging his head. Asch placed his hands on the dreck's shoulders to wake him up but then the idiot opened his mouth.

"P-Please... D-Don't... leave me... A-A-Alone..." The replica said and -to Asch's huge shock- started to cry. His eyes were still shut but the tears were rolling down on his cheeks.

"P-Please... If you leave... I'll...I'll..." The sleeping boy muttered getting Asch's attention.

"Who is going to leave you?" He asked, wondering how dump this must sound. The dreck was sleeping! But again, to Asch's surprise, the replica answered.

"A-Asch... Don't! Don't leave me! Because I-I l-lov-"

_Slam_

The door opened with a huge force, almost ripping it off of its hinges. A tall person came in, looking at Asch with a confused look on his face. Asch stood up quickly, after realizing that the position which he had been before looked like he was going to kiss the dreck.

"What is it, Largo?!" Asch snarled, glaring at the larger man. The slam had covered the dreck's phrase. Now he wouldn't find out what he had said!

"Van ordered me to told you that we must go to a mission. _Now_!" The huge man said, still a doubtful look in his eyes.

"Now?!" Asch's eyes widened. Was this some kind of revenge? Hey, it wasn't his fault that some stupid humans who lived hundreds of years ago made that stupid path with the cheagles?

"Yes. Take you sword and follow me. We are out only couple of hours." Largo sent the last doubtful glare at the sleeping boy, waiting Asch to take his sword and go. Asch looked at Luke the last time before going with Largo, not knowing what would happen at the same time when he would be outside.

- - -

First time in his life, Van was sure that he would lose his patience any seconds now. There was two reasons. One, the cheagle which Asch gave was the most annoying thing which Van had seen in his life. The cheagle woke up couple of hours after Asch left it to Van and thanks to it, Van couldn't concentrate on his work. He had to put the cheagle in his closet but still it screamed something about it master... Two, he was getting impatient with Asch. Why Luke was still alive?! He had implied to the teen that they didn't need the replica anymore! The plan has changed! And Luke knew too much, Asch knew that too. The risk was too big to keep him alive. So why? Why Asch hasn't killed him?! What was so important abut that boy...?

A couple of knocks woke Van from his thoughts. He looked at the door as a white haired man with glasses came in, with a hint of fear in his eyes.

"You summoned me?" The man asked, standing next the door.

"Yes Dist. I have a mission for you." The man called as Dist´s eyes widened. This was the first time when Van had summoned him to his room to get the mission. Normally, Van just ordered somebody to go to Dist's basement and tell it.

"Y-Yes?"

"You must remember your old friend, Jade Curtiss?" Van asked.

"That imbecile is **not** my friend!" Dist said slowly, his eye twitching madly behind his glasses. "He stole my documents and fired me from our project, claiming that my methods weren't that what they needed! Even though I got the idea of creating that Duke's son! I swear that if I'll see him again, I'll...-"

"He is dead Dist." Van interrupted him, watching Dist's reaction. Dist´s eyes widened and he clapped his hand on his mouth. The light from the windows hit at his glasses and Van couldn't see his eyes anymore.

"...How?" Dist whispered quietly, staring at the ground and his white hair hide his face almost completely.

"He tried to make his own replica sometime ago. And failed miserably. Which is weird because after all, he is inventor of _Fomicry_. Somebody even says that it wasn't an accident. So technically, he killed himself."

"But anyway, back to your mission." Van changed the subject, making Dist to raise his head and glaring at the other man a little. "Do you remember seven years ago when you and Curtiss made Asch's replica?" The tanned man asked.

Dist nodded after a small silence. How could he forget that?! It was their first replica who lived more than two hours. The Duke was crazy, not caring the replica and saying that it was a failure! But then, Jade fired him couple of days after the replica had a solid form. And he didn't even have a reason! That idiot, stupid, piece of-

Oh Jade, why!? Dist wanted to scream.

"Well, here is the mission. Come closer." Van ordered, waving him to come closer. He whispered the mission in Dist's ear. He didn't took the risk that somebody would hear them.

"You're serious?! What if Asch'll find out!? He'll kill me or destroy my precious machines!" Dist cried out after Van ended his plan.

"Asch is at a mission now. He won't find out. I promise."

"B-But... Fine! I'll do it!" Dist gave up. Oh he would get so in troubles if Asch'll find out... Poor him and his lovely machines!

"Good. You can leave." Van smiled, reminding a certain red eyed man and made Dist to look away.

Dist was going out of the room when Van shouted behind of him "Wait!". The white haired man turned around, looking little annoyingly.

"What?" He asked. Hadn't Van done enough today! What he still wanted?

"How is... she?" Van whispered and to Dist's huge shock, looked nervously but knew immediately who Van was talking.

"The surgery went well. She can't make any noises. Never." Dist answered, gaining only a nod. He left the room quietly a same question in his head which has haunted him many months.

_Why are we doing this?_

_- - -_

Van sighed sadly. Looking at a clock. Soon, he'll get rid of that red headed replica.

"I am sorry Luke. But I must do this." Van sighed, taking a book on his table and started to read.

- - -

Luke opened his eyes.

"_Thank god, it was only a dream..."_ Luke sighed mentally. He saw a nightmare about how Asch left him alone... He was so scared and so... broken.

By the way, where is Asch?

Luke glanced around, a panic rising in his chest. Did Asch really...?

"He is at a mission." Suddenly, a voice from shadows answered to Luke's question. But it didn't help to calm the panic in Luke's chest. Instead, it rose. Who the hell was that!?

"My, you have grown! Well after all, I was the one who created you! My precious replica... Oh it's a pity that you were stolen from me by that savage..." The voice whispered the last word, thinking a certain man.

"W-Who are you!?" Luke shouted to the darkness, hearing a chuckle.

"I won't tell my beautiful name to some like you! Even though I am your creator. But you are coming with me!" The voice said. Luke tried to stood up but his foot gave up as he smelled something.

"Don't worry. It's only a sleeping gas. Good night, my replica."

And with that Luke was welcomed by the darkness. A one request in his head.

"_Asch, save me..."_

_- - -_

It took a hour to Luke to wake up. He groaned as he rose to a sitting position, rubbing his head.

"_What the hell happened?"_ He thought, suddenly remembered everything, even his nightmare. He looked around. The place was some kind of a cage or a cell. The walls and the floor were made of stone, a nasty wind blew from the holes on the wall. The place was big and dark and Luke couldn't see almost anything. He remembered the voice from shadows and a hint of fear was noticeably in his eyes. He touched his sheath which Asch cave to him, noticing that the sword was gone.

"Where the hell- AARGGH" He screamed when something touched his back. He turned around instinctively in a fighting position, meeting a pair of sea blue eyes. Well, at least one of them. A right eye was under many bangs of hair. Luke stepped couple of steps away from the other person, seeing that it was actually a girl. The girl rolled her eyes to Luke's reaction and took Luke's hand as the boy stared at her.

Like he already noticed, the girl's eyes were blue and her hair was long, probably brown. She wore a mixed version between jacket and dress, covering half of her neck. Talking about her neck, Luke saw a thick bandage covering the rest neck, couple drop of blood in the white bandages.

"Who... are you?" Luke asked, staring at the hand which the girl had taken. But the girl didn't answer to him. Instead, her grip tightened on Luke's hand and used her other hand to form lines on Luke's hand.

"What the- Hey, are those letters?!" Luke asked, gaining a irritating nod. Didn't the girl talk?

He waited that the girl finished.

_**Are you okay? **_The girl 'asked'.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

_**My name is Tear Grants.**_

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Let's see... I killed Jade, Anise is a toddler, Tear is mute, Guy must have lose his job, nobody does remember Natalia, Ion likes slapping people, Sync cries like a baby, Luke loves the person who had tried to kill him, The Duke hates Luke, Susanne is dead, Dist cries because of Jade, Mieu is in a closet and Asch is... Asch. When I started to write this, I never thought that something like this would happen... Did you?

Shit, I killed one of the greatest character in the game history... NOOO! Didn't see that coming... And don't worry, Dist does have his chair but it was broken but it comes at the next chapter! Hopefully...

I know that the end sucks but I was so tired... And it's hard to write when somebody is mute... -glares at Tear-

_**R&R OR YOU MAKE JADE CRY!**_

Rest in peace, Jade Curtiss


	18. The Savior

_**Shattered Mirror**_

_Chapter 18. The Saviour_

I have to warn you about one thing. We are getting closer the reasons why Luke and Ion are there and why Van wanted that ring. I'll give a clue that it has to do with Yulia Joe **BUT,** Forget **EVERYTHING** what you knew about her, Lorelei and The Score. Because I am going to chance all those things somehow. Why? When I started this fic, I didn't know who the hell was Lorelei. Pathetic, eh...? And I'm still pretty confused about those things... But this is AU fic so I have the power to do it!

And I have a new fic! If you like fantasy, go to read 'As the Nightingale Sings'! Main pairing: Sync X Ion! Because the world needs more it!

I just noticed that Luke looks like a girl in the anime... What, he does!

**Warnings:** Dist is a sadist. But you can't spell Sadist without Dist! And Luke is smart. And a fan-boy. Sorry. I have been sleepy... ANGST! I just noticed that this fic doesn't have had any good angst... I think that I must change the genre soon.

**Dreamstar13: **Yup, though now there is other things what he must get and the thing what Lorelei will do is different.

**El-xo:** Thanks! Actually , the letter was to Pamela and Oliver because Sync's parents wanted warn about the original Ion's dad. And Jade is not hiding. He is dead. (Gah, I'm so horrible!) Though he'll have a some kind of cameo!

**accident prone: **-being chased by the lesbian unicorns- No, don't kill me! I have fics to write and publish! And sorry that I fooled you. Asch will admit it someday. It can just take days. Or months. Or years. Or- Gah I don't know! -bangs head on a table-

**Angela: **Thanks! And sorry this took so long but my school started and I have been writing my other stories too.

**CrystallizedPen: **Wow, I did!? I have been worried because it's kinda hard to keep characters in their own personality. (As you can see) Jade is awesome indeed. There is a reason why Tear is mute but it will be revealed later...

**LatyfeSurLeSora: **Uups... Sorry... XD

**xAschlukeluverx: **Yay, thank you! And someone will confess something! And it will be soon! Why am I spoiling my own story...?

**lindis3000: **I can see your point. Asch is pretty much like my friend's brother. But it's is nice that you read this even though you aren't the hugest fan of AschXLuke! And the romance will happen later! And as for the jealous thing... Let's see what happens...

**Kairi162:** Yay, someone else doesn't like Natalia! And Jade might appear later... Maybe.

**SilverMoon888: **How could I ever be angry to you because you made me the happiest girl on the world when I checked my e-mail and it had so much mails! Lol, Asch's pet cat... And there is a reason why I killed Jade! Just wait... -evil grin-

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_Kill...me..."_

_Luke_

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"Your name is... Tear?" Luke asked, seeing that the girl nodded sadly.

"_Grants... Why that sounds so familiar..."_ The same teen thought in his mind. Now when his eyes were get used to the darkness, he noticed that the girl looked familiar too. She had the same hair and eyes color as...

"Are you siblings with Master Van?!" Luke asked, raising his voice. Tear just rolled her eyes but nodded, making Luke to gasp. She started to 'write' on his hand again.

_**He is my brother**_

"He is your- WHAT!?" Luke shouted as Tear nodded again, feeling little angry. Why Master hadn't told him that he has a sister. Master told him that his family died when he was a kid. Why did he lie about that?

_**We aren't close**_ _**siblings**_

"Oh... I'm sorry... By the way, what are you doing here?" The question had bothered him since he saw the girl. He waited that the girl would 'write' it on his hand. Which never happened.

"I asked, what are you doing here?" The red headed replied but this time, he got an answer.

_**I can't tell**_

Luke stared at the girl's blue eyes some time before asking, "Why?" and he got a cold answer.

_**I can't trust you**_

They both fell in a long silence, studying each other.

After being with Asch such a long time, Luke had started to learn how to 'read' other people and studying them. He still wasn't so good at it but he could 'read' something about the girl in front of him.

He understood that Tear couldn't trust him. They met just five minutes ago but still the coldness of the answer wasn't something what Luke expected. He guessed that it was just the girl's personality but of course, it could be something else too... He lowered his gaze from the girl's face to her neck. There was little more blood in the bandages, but only a bit. Talking about those, why she even had those bandages? Maybe that's why she couldn't talk. Or maybe she was in a surgery that should have made her speak again but had failed. And was she really Master's sister? Master Van had never mentioned that he has a sister... Maybe she was lying... But she had some same features as Master... Gah, he had been with Asch too long time! Why did he fall in love with that stupid, bossy, selfish, jerk, emo...!?

But there must be some good in his original. There must be a softer side of the angry red headed teen. Luke just had to find a way to find it.

At the same time as Luke dreamed about Asch, Tear was still looking at the her new jail mate. The boy seemed trustworthy, but could she really trust him? Could she warn about her brother to him? The red headed teen looked like he respected her older brother. Maybe she could just-

No!

Not after what her _own_ brother did to her. The one who had grown up with her, the own who she loved as a brother... The one who took something precious from her... She couldn't.

Tear looked at the other teen's face, studying and feeling little amused. The boy in front of her was drooling slightly. What in the name of Lorelei he was thinking right now!? Maybe she didn't even want to know... She started again forming the letters on Luke's hand, smiling slightly.

_**You're drooling**_

"Huh? W-Wait a sec! I'm not- Oh... Sorry..." Luke blushed, looking away and wiped the drool away.

"So... Where are we?" The red headed boy asked, chancing the subject. "Can you even tell how long have you been here?"

_**This is Dist's basement and I have been here about two weeks. I'm not sure, I lost the track of time many days ago**_

"T-Two weeks? How the hell did you survive...?" Luke muttered more to himself than to Tear. "Who is Dist?"

_**The one who kidnapped us. I'm not sure but he is some kind of... scientist or a... doctor**_

"_Scientist...?" _Luke thought awhile, thinking about the creepy voice at the Asch's room. Now when thought about it, the voice said something about 'creating' him. Maybe he was one of those scientists...

"I hope that Asch will save me..." Luke sighed, not realizing that he had said it aloud and got a weird look from Tear.

_**Asch...? Asch The Bloody!?**_

"Yeah. Do you know him?"

_**I can't tell**_

"Can you even say have you have seen hi-"

"Looks like you're awaken." An other voice interrupted the prisoners conversation as a door opened, revealing the white haired man who stepped in the jail, two giant robots following him.

"Y-You're that man who-" Luke started, pointing at Dist.

"Who kidnapped you with a marvelous plan. Yes, that's me." Dist studied Luke with his eyes. Luke just glared at him, trying to think could he and Tear push Dist aside and flee from their kidnapper.

"Don't even think about running away, boy. No one have fled from me! I'm sure that she knows that." Dist smirked, pointing at Tear and Luke noticed first time the countless bandages on Tear's hands.

"Anyway, I have a reason why I waste my precious time by hanging here." Dist suddenly took a syringe, filled with red liquid which looked like a blood and in a blink of an eye, he shoved it into Luke's skin. Both Luke's and Tear's eyes widened and Luke let a couple of curses escape from his lips.

"What the fuc- Huh?!" Luke panicked as he fell on his knees. He gasped and tried to stood up, without success. Then slowly, he fell on the floor, eyes filled with panic.

"Relax, it's just paralyzed your body." The white haired man nodded to the robot who picked the panicked boy. And at the same time, Tear had stood up, looking at Dist, her hands forming fists.

"You really think that you could fight back!? Your don't have your knives and in that condition, fighting back wouldn't be good idea." Dist enjoyed looking at Tear's expression. The mute girl was shaking, biting her lip and looked at Dist. The older man knew that she hated this. Being so weak and how she couldn't help Asch's replica. She was now like a shadow by what she was earlier. It was a pity.

"Now, excuse me but I must go and fulfill my mission." Dist grinned, waving to the robots to follow him.

"_I'm sorry Luke..."_ Tear thought sadly as the door closed behind the white haired man.

- - -

"Asch, behind you!" Largo sighed even though he knew that Asch was aware of the monster behind him. He and Asch were heading back to their 'home'. They both were angry and confused. The mission was to go the nearest village and get a rare book named 'Rise of Lorelei'. But the villagers never had even heard about that book. And when he and Asch had thought about it, they never had even heard about the book too! This confused Largo. Why Van sent them to the village after some fake book? There was something else going on. Maybe this was the plan to keep them away from somewhere.

Or someone.

"Asch, behind you!" Largo sighed to the angry red-headed boy. Asch was aware of the monster behind of him and sliced it in two pieces brutally. The monster cried in pain as it faded, the blood spilled on Asch's face and clothes.

"You know that you could be more merciful to the monsters. It's not their fault that you're angry." The tall man sighed, getting a murderous glare from the younger boy. But they both knew that Largo was right.

Asch was angry. More than normal. And when Asch is angrier than normal, it wasn't a good thing.

But now Asch had a good reason to be angry. First, because of his the-stupidest-idiot-who-had-walked-on-earth replica, he had embarrassed himself in front of Largo who probably thought now that Asch was getting soft and weak. Hell no! Asch _loathed_ weak people. And this _all_ was the dreck's fault! Asch had just been curious. Yes, it wasn't his fault that the dreck had muttered something while sleeping and making Asch curious. The moron had _cried _for god's sake! And he had repeated Asch's name! So he had been curious! It all made sense! It was the dreck's fault! Not Asch's fault!

But... It didn't ease his mind.... Gah, what the hell wrong with him!

Well anyway, the second thing. His Oh-I'm-so-much-better-than-you-and-I-can-force-you-to-a-mission-which-is-just-a-fake-mission boss had tricked him. Asch hasn't time to go and embarrass himself asking stupid questions about some stupid book which doesn't even exist. And even if he didn't want to admit it, he was worried about his replica. He was pretty sure that the dreck was the reason why Van had sent him and Largo to a mission. To keep him away from his replica.

He needed to hurry.

"_That idiot must be in save or I'll kill him!"_

_- - -_

"_So... This is the way how I'm going to die... On a metal table as a molester will shove god-knows-what drugs in my body. I hope that it's painless... Great way to die, though..." _Luke thought sarcastically as Dist shoved the fifth needle in Luke's skin. Luke could only watch as a yellow liquid ran under his skin.

"Let's see..." Dist muttered, a crazy smirk on his lips and made Luke into a panic.

"_What that yellow liquid was?!" _Luke thought in a panic. And soon, he got the answer. 15 seconds later when Dist had shoved the needle into Luke's flesh, he felt a quick yet strong pain in his legs. But because his body was still numb, he only could blink in pain which Dist noticed immediately.

"It works this quick? My marvelous plan is working!" The man muttered, watching as Luke flinched little. The paralyzing medicine was losing its effect and soon, Luke was able to shout.

- - -

As Dist was testing Luke, Tear was still standing at the small jail. She stared at the stone floor, biting her lip and trying not to cry. She was a soldier for Daath's sake! Her teachers had taught that a soldiers mustn't show their emotions. She couldn't cry... She couldn't cry... She co-

"_**GYAAAAHHHHH!**" _A horrible cry came from the next room, making Tear want to cry even more. She knew who had shouted. The screaming continued soon and Tear fell on her knees, covering her ears. She didn't want to hear. The cries where so much full of pain. It sounded so bestial that Tear wondered would the boy die. Even the thought made a tear to roll down her cheek.

... a tear?

Tear clapped her hand on her cheek and felt something wet. She looked at it, a pure shock on her beautiful face. She knew what this meant, making her cry even harder.

Even a single tear made her lost the last thing which she still had.

She had lost her family. She had lost her home .She had lost her voice.

Now she had lost her authority as a soldier. The last reason why she had kept living.

Now, she had nothing.

- - -

Van was sitting on his chair, reading a small book and tried to concentrate about what he was reading. But his thoughts always went to the time as he glanced the clock. How long it would still take?

"_**GYAAAAHHHHH!**" _A horrible cry came from the basement, making Van to flinch slightly. But soon, he started to smirk cruelly, raising from his chair and going to the door and opened it.

It was time.

- - -

Pain. It was all what he felt. And he thought that it would be the last thing what he would feel too. It was everywhere. In his hands, feet, everywhere. It was driving him insane. It would kill him. It felt like something was ripping him into two piece. He was going to die.

But at that moment, he didn't care. Actually, it would be a good thing. Asch would be happy if he dies... Asch would be free. He would get his life back. Luke didn't care if he would die. As long as Asch is happy. If Asch is happy, Luke is too.

Dist was watching as the young replica suffered and shouted, feeling weird. This boy didn't even know what was happening to him. He was probably thinking that he was dying. The white haired man had done this many times. So why he was feeling like this? It felt like something was eating his soul... Like he couldn't look at himself at a mirror anymore. Like he was even more lowly than a filthy dog.

What was wrong with him?

He stared at the boy's green eyes which were filled with pain. The boy wasn't looking back. He looked like he wasn't looking at anything. He was still shivering because the pain but didn't scream anymore. He was panting loudly and Dist though that he had screamed so much that he had lost his voice. But then, Luke's head turned slowly to look at him. He opened his mouth many times, without making any voices. Dist lowered his head and listened closely what the red headed replica was trying to say.

Soon, he heard two words escaping from Luke. Two, simple words.

"Kill....me..."

Dist's eyes widened behind his round glasses as the feeling in his chest started getting even worse. Luke looked like he was going to say more but then an another pain attack came and he screamed again, now even louder.

"_**GYYYAAHHHHHH!**"_

The screaming was making Dist insane. Why the boy had to scream so loudly?! Why he couldn't stop shouting?!

Then it happened.

Silence.

Dist looked at the suffering boy as his body started to glow. It happened so fast. The golden light slowly rose on Luke's body. The poor boy watched in horror as the glow started forming a form. Form of a human.

Dist looked at the golden human form, his mouth opened slightly. He did it. After so many years, he had succeeded.

Luke otherwise, watched in horror at the gold human. He never noticed that the pain was gone as a new panic rose in his chest. What was that thing which came from him? He stared at the face of the form. Even though its face wasn't complete yet, he noticed something familiar on it. Something familiar...

Suddenly, Luke felt a weird feeling in his chest. It wasn't painful more likely uncomfortable. The feeling kept growing in his chest as his mind begin blurry.

"W-What..." He started, starting to panic.

And soon, everything went black and the last thing what he saw was two, green eyes stared at him, smirking.

- - -

Tear was sitting in a corner, hugging her legs and lied her head on her knees as she stared at the ground. The tears had dried a long time ago and now she was waiting. The screams had stopped too, making her nervous and only one question in her head.

"_Is Luke okay...?" _The blue eyed girl thought, raising her head as she heard that the door opened and a Dist's robot came, holding something...

Or actually, someone. Someone with red hair.

The robot tossed the red headed body on the ground and left the room, closing the door behind. Tear gasped and rushed over the figure.

"_Luke... Wake up."_ She moved her lips, not remembering that she didn't have voice anymore. She shook the boy with her hands and turned him on his back. Her eyes widened as she saw Luke's front body.

"_W-What happened...?"_ She thought, patting Luke cheeks which had some fresh scratches from when the robot tossed him on the ground.

Luke's whole body was almost white and the only prove that made Tear to believe that he was even alive was slowly raising chest as the boy breathed, though it looked painful. Some parts of his arms where covered by blood what had came from the wounds what the needles had caused.

But the most horrible thing was his eyes.

The green eyes which used to be lively and childish were now empty and dead. His mouth was half open as he gasped air in pain silently.

Tear quickly grabbed the boy's arms and dragged him, leaning his back against the wall where a small glint of light came between the rocks of wall. Tear tried helplessly wake the boy up, biting her lip. If only she had still her voice...

"_Why am I so weak...?"_ The mute girl asked herself, hearing someone opening the door behind her. She turned around but it was too late. The person hit her neck, making her to meet the darkness as she fell on the ground, unconscious.

The person smirked, the blue eyes turning to look at the soulless boy. The boy stared a the ground, not understanding what happened to the girl. The person's smirk even widened as the dark figure walked to the boy, grabbing his shoulders and shaking them slightly.

"Oh god, Luke!? Are you okay! What are you doing here? W-What happened to you?!" The person asked worriedly. Luke looked at the person in front of him and a small blink in his eyes formed.

"...Master... Van...?"

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Cliffhanger! Yay, I love writing them...

This is pretty confusing! But don't worry, everything what has happened in this chapter has a meaning!

Damn you Asch! Get your ass and save your Princess! No, not Natalia! The red headed! Not Zelos! I mean your idiot replica! Wtf, what is Axel doing here!? Okay, that's it, in next chapter there will be a huge lemon scene between you and Luke if you don't go and- Oh, hey Luke!

...Damn it.

Sorry, I wanted to write something random. And sorry that it took a month to update. And sorry that 'Dist is a molest' comment. I have watched Yu-Gi-Oh abridged series waayyy too much.


	19. The Traitor

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 19. The Traitor

Say hello to angst Luke again! And we meet a new person! His name is Asch the Crazy! Be nice to him. He isn't so sane than Asch the Bloody... I think that I go to sleep now...

I made this chapter more 'freely' than the other chapters. I hope it's good...

Anyway, I have some news. As you can see, I haven't updated 'Luna Nova' but it doesn't mean that I discontinued it! I have never been good at consentrating in many things at the same time and I was so stupid when I published many fics at the same time. And if I'll keep continuing it, I can't put my heart and soul into it. Hell, I have no idea how I should end it too!... I'll first finish AtNS newest chapter (It's killing me!) and this and then I'll try to update it too! I'm sorry! It can take some time though...

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"_Let's make a deal..."_

_-Asch the Bloody_

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Sync was walking back to his room where Ion was waiting. Though he had no idea how he was going to face him.

"_What the hell was I thinking?! I have never cried in front of anyone! And why I told him!? Why I showed the scar to him?! What the hell is wrong with me?! Oh gods, don't tell me that I'm getting softer? Wait, I can't get softer, I don't even have feelings! I'm just a replica and not even a real human! Just a replica..." _Sync thought, and stopped walking.

But... whatever he was with Ion, he felt like he was real. Not a fake or useless...He felt so alive with the naïve replica. Like he could trust his own life to the younger green headed boy's hands.

Like he said, what was wrong with him.

But...what?

"MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A B-!" Someone shouted, making Sync to snap into reality. And Sync knew who owned that voice. But instead of walking away, he waited, standing in the middle of the corridor and listened how the footsteps got louder and louder.

Couple seconds later, a person came behind the corner, his red hair fluttering in air. When the red headed teen noticed that he wasn't alone, he rushed over the masked replica, grabbing his collar and asked:

"Where. Is. He?!" The murderous teen asked slowly and clearly, putting a bloody tone in every word. Every normal person would have pissed their pants or at least fainted. But Sync wasn't a normal person.

"Who?" Sync asked, even though he was pretty sure who Asch was talking.

"Who?! _Who_?! I'm talking about _my_ moron dreck! Where is he?!" Asch shouted, not even noticing what he had said. Unlike Sync, who raised his eyebrows, not believing what the angry teen had just said.

"What did you just say?!" Sync asked, wanting to see did he hear correctly.

"Where the fuck is that dreck?!" Asch shouted, shaking Sync. Sync sighed, maybe he had misheard it. Asch would be the last person who would say something like that about_ his_ replica.

"Look, I have no idea where your replica is." The younger boy said calmly, raising his hands and grabbed Asch's wrists and lowered them away from his collar. After all, he was master of the martial arts.

"You don't even have a single clue?" Asch asked, rubbing his wrists and a a little hint of worry echoed in his voice.

"Ugh, where have you searched him?" The masked boy asked, getting a surprised look. And Asch wasn't the only one who was surprised. Hell, Sync had no idea why he was helping the angry teen.

"I have looked all the places! The first floor, the entrance, hell I even sneak into Van's office! And-"

"Did you check the basement?" Sync interrupted suddenly. Asch left his mouth open as the realization dawned into his eyes, clapping his hand on his forehead.

"Oh my fucking..." He groaned.

"You're kidding, right? You seriously didn't check the craziest person on the earth who is interest of replicas first? Man, and I thought you were smart." Sync said, not believing that Asch the Bloody, who was one of the most organized person who he had ever met, hadn't looked at the basement where Dist lived.

"Oh shut up!" Asch growled, punching Sync and ran to the direction of basement.

"No need to thank..." The green haired boy muttered and started walk again to direction of his room and one question echoed in his mind. Why did he help Asch? Normally, he would just walk away, not helping even if he would know something.

"_Since when I have been so soft hearted?"_

_- - -_

Luke couldn't describe the feeling inside of him. It felt like a part of him was missing. Like he was flying in the darkness. And a pair of green eyes were watching him. It felt like somebody had ripped his soul into two pieces and took the other piece away. He couldn't hear. He couldn't see or speak. There was only pain as he breathed. Like being alive was bad. Maybe it was, at least to him. He wasn't a natural creature. He was freak. He shouldn't have even born. He shouldn't even exist. He knew this and still he kept on smiling. It was like having a mask on your face. It kept you in darkness and didn't reveal your true feelings.

But then, there was the light.

"Master... Van...?" Luke said. He still couldn't see but he was sure that he heard Master's worried voice. He was so happy! It has been so long time...

Luke was sure that Master said something else but he didn't hear anymore. He was just happy that Van was there. He would save him. He felt how the master was carrying him on his back. Luke wondered where he was taking him. What if somebody would caught them?

He fell in the darkness again, worrying over Master Van.

- - -

Van smiled. It looked like Luke still trusted him. So, Asch hadn't told him who had actually planned this all. Good, he could still trust Asch after all.

Slowly, he pulled the boy's body on his back. The boy's body was light and Van easily walked out the small jail, stepping over his sister's body. As he had been in the jail, Dist had took the golden body in a metal cocoon and was now sitting on his chair.

"He won't die?" He asked, sounding really surprising. "He is a replica after all and weaker than his original. Many much stronger humans haven't survived and this not-even-a-real-human will!?"

"He has always been the lucky one." Van said simply with a hint of disappointment.

"Anyway, I must go before Asch comes. See you later Dist." Van rushed out of the basement before Dist could understand his words correctly.

"But-" Dist started, freezing when he replayed Van's words in his mind.

"_...Before Asch comes?"_

"W-Wait! Y-You promised that- dammit!" Dist cursed, shaking uncontrollable. If the rumors were true, Asch deeply cared about his replica thought he didn't want to admit it. And he knew what kind of person Asch was if he was angry. Dist could still remember when he had created a liquid bomb and it had slipped by his hands and Asch had been standing close and... Well... It wasn't pretty.

Dist still had the scars.

"Oh god, he will kill me and destroy my precious machines! I must go before he will-"

"Who?" A really cold voice came from the entrance of the basement, making Dist to shiver. Slowly, he turned around and met a pair of angry green eyes.

"A-A-Asch? W-What are you doing here? I-I thought that you were on a mission...!" The white haired man said, shivering.

"Oh yeah, I came back. And guess what? I'm sure that you know that my replica is in this base and lives in my room. And again, guess what? He isn't there! And then I thought that you would know where he is?" Asch asked, studying his fingers and spoke with a soft and calm tone. Which made that situation even worse. Asch _never _spoke softly.

"I-I have n-no idea what you are talking about! S-Sure I heard about your r-replica b-but I swear! I haven't seen him h-here! N-Now could you excuse, I have work to do!" The white haired man said, turning around.

"Oh really...?" The teen said behind him and Dist heard how he stepped into the room. The curiosity won and he quickly glanced at the boy, looking what he was doing. Asch had went to the metal table where Luke had lied just a moment ago and to Dist's horror, Asch took from the table a long red hair which had lighter end. He looked at it with a blank face what Dist hadn't ever seen.

Was the replica so important to Asch?

"Then tell me, where did this come from?" The younger boy asked, still with a blank tone and look, staring at the hair. Dist otherwise, forgot how to breath and just stared at the hair.

"I-I d-don't k-know...!" Dist tried, even though he knew that he was digging his own grave.

"Oh really?" Asch said, dropping the hair back to the table and stepped closer to Dist. The white haired man glanced around, biting his lip as the red headed boy walked to him. "Then, I must make you remember!" Asch continued, cracking his knuckles as he went closer to Dist.

"A-A-Asch, p-please l-let me e-explain!-" Dist was interrupted as Asch put his hand on Dist's mouth, covering his screams and looked at the older man with the most horrific look what Dist have ever seen.

"Where. Is. He?!"

- - -

"_W-What happened...?" _Tear thought, rubbing her neck. Last thing what she remembered was that somebody hit her neck and Luke was in that weird condition-

"_LUKE!?" _She opened her eyes, meeting the darkness and quickly rose into sitting position. The panic rose in her chest when she noticed that she was alone in the small jail.

"_Oh go, oh god! What should I do?!" _She panicked, raising quickly on her feet. She was glancing around. Even though she had known Luke only about an hour, she had started to like him, sure he was childish and maybe a little bit stupid but also a good person. And he had been the first person in years who had spoken to her like they were equals.

Tear could still remember when she was a child. The other children didn't want to play with her because she was 'different'. She had grown up in the middle of soldiers and her own brother was a respected soldier. The adults feared her because of her brother. And they had always spoken to her like they weren't equal. Like she was some kind of higher creature. They were so afraid of her and her brother. Because, they had '_the power_'.

But Luke... He had just 'rudely' asked personal questions. It felt nice... To talk with somebody freely.

Tear sighed. There was nothing what she could do. And she hated it. She had been strong her whole life and now... She hated being weak. She just had to wait that somebody will notice Luke's disappearance.

"....you where on a mission?"

Tear rose her head. Somebody was talking in the next room. That sounded like... Dist? But who was he talking to?

The blue-eyed girl walked across the jail where she could hear better. The other speaker was Dist but who was the other one...

"A-A-Asch, p-please l-let me e-explain!-" Dist begged, making Tear freeze.

Asch.... Asch the Bloody!?

Tear listened, wanting to know what was happening in the other side of wall.

- - -

"N-No, please Asch! S-STOP IT!" Dist screamed, nearly in tears and looked at the disaster. Asch had chained him on the metal table and had ruined almost all of his machines. He had spent so much time and love in those! Oh, his poor little angels... And he himself wasn't in a good condition. His poor angelic face! It will never go to it´s perfect shape anymore! Or his perfect and sexy body! Oh, why?! Why he listened to Van and obeyed him?!

Well... Van was the boss...

"Not until you tell me where he is!" Asch growled. Was Dist stupid or something!? All Asch needed was a one, simple word. And Dist didn't give it! He had no time with this!

"I-I don't know!" Dist kept trying. Maybe Van will reward him if he keeps his mouth shut.

"Then, what the hell was that hair doing here?! I don't think that it mysteriously appeared here!" Asch shouted, grabbing Dist's snow white hair and shook it. Hard.

"I-I don't know!"

"You better wish he is still alive!" Asch snapped, releasing the older man's hair and roughly tossed it against the hard metal table. The younger teen growled in anger and grabbed his head between his hands, turning around and looking at the dark room.

"What if he doesn't want to live..." Dist muttered, no realizing that he said it aloud before it was too late. Their both eyes widened and Dist gasped.

"What did you say...?" Asch said slowly, meeting Dist's eyes again.

"I-I-I didn't say anything!"

"Don't talk bullshit! What did you mean with that?!" Asch shouted, grabbing Dist's neck and choking it.

"He... He said it! He wanted me to kill himself!" Dist whispered, trying to breath. "He begged it before Van came and took him with him-" Dist left his mouth open as Asch release his grip from Dist's neck, looking at he victoriously and angrily at the same time.

"I knew it!" The red-headed teen muttered, rushing out of the room.

"W-Wait! R-Release me from these chains- Dammit!"

- - -

In the other side of base, Van slammed the door of his office open. He knew that he must hurry, Asch could be there any minute. The man put the unconscious boy on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. The cheagle, whose Van had put on his table, was screaming his master's name.

"Master, master! Are you okay?! I'm so happy to see you again! ...Master?" The young cheagle jumped in his little cage, not realizing that Luke couldn't hear him. Van ,who had got enough about the blue furred animal, took his sword and pointed the small cheagle.

"One more word and I'll kill you." The man said calmly and Mieu closed his mouth, shivering in horror. Van turned around, walking to Luke and halted just in front of him.

"It's nothing personal Luke. It just... I had to change the plan. Sorry about that." The brown-haired man muttered, raising his sword.

"Goodbye Luke." He continued, swishing the sword at Luke's direction. But before the blade hit Luke, Van only saw long red hair with dark ends running in between him and Luke.

_Clank!_

"Argh!"

Van stared at the boy in front of him. Asch. The teen had jumped in between him and Luke, protecting them. But Asch's grip had weakened just for a second, causing Van's blade hit his shoulder. The blood had spilled on Luke's face and Asch used his other hand to press the wound, cursing heavily. Quickly, Van took his sword from Asch's shoulder, tossing it away. The blue-furred cheagle had passed out when the blade had pierced Asch's shoulder and was now whimpering quietly in his cage.

The red-headed original was panting heavily because of the pain and exhaustion. He had just ran to the other side of the base in a top speed but looks like he made it. But what now? He was in trouble, he could tell from Van's face.

"What are you doing Asch?" Van asked quietly.

"Stopping you by making a mistake." Asch answered, glanced his replica quickly. His heart almost stopped when he saw the dreck's empty eyes. Asch felt a huge pain in his chest. Every second he kept staring at his normally lively and idiot replica, he felt like something ripped his soul into smaller pieces.

And he hated it.

Asch hated when he felt something what he couldn't describe. And as he spent more time with his replica, he felt so many different feelings what he couldn't understand. And he hated when he couldn't understand something.

"Mistake...?"

"Yeah...You remember what you said to me? He is like a slave. I don't still understand completely why you have gathered two outsider replicas here but knowing you, there is a reason. So, I must stop you." Asch said. He wasn't lying completely. They stared at each other for a long time in a silence before Van sighed.

"Yes, there _was_ a reason and still is. But I need only _one_ replica. So, there is one too much. And unlike yours, that younger replica hasn't so much trouble to me than yours." The answer made Asch want to kill the older man. He needed think quickly or Van will kill the dreck.

"_Wait a second..." _Asch thought, smirking. He had heard from Arietta that Sync had been acting weird since that other replica has came. So, that slapping bitch must be important to him.

Asch had an idea. He looked up at Van's face.

"Let's make a deal..."

- - -

Warm. That was the first thing what came in Luke's mind. He opened his eyes slightly, listening footsteps. Somebody was... carrying him? He still felt dizzy and moaned quietly. Did he hit his head or something?

Then, he remembered all what happened.

He startled and tried to raise his head, causing his carrier to make a little jump.

"Master Van?!" Luke whispered. He couldn't even speak louder! What the hell that Dist did to him?!

"Sorry, I'm not him." Luke's carrier snarled. Luke opened his jaw staring at his carrier's green eyes.

"A-Asch?!" He gasped. He must be dreaming. There's no way that his original was carrying him!

"Surprise..." His angry original muttered. Luke's move made his shoulder even more painful.

"W-What happened? Where's Tear and Master Van? And what was that golden thing?!"

"What the hell Dist gave to you..." Asch muttered.

"It was... dream?" Luke asked, yawning as Asch stopped walking.

"Y-Yeah... I found you at Dist's basement. H-He must have drudged you..." Asch lied sadly. For some reason, he didn't wanted to hurt his replica's feelings. He could see how important person Van was to him.

"Is that true... It was really weird dream... I'll tell about it to you some day..." Luke said, starting to close his eyes. He felt so tired...

"Okay... Try to sleep okay?" Asc said, listening how his replica's breathing slowed and kept walking to his room, thinking what he had done.

The dreck will hate him if he'll find out. But it was Asch's sin.

And he did it to protect his stupid little replica.

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Aww... Small fluffy end.

Ehehee... Slapping bitch... Who ever said that Asch and Ion where friends?

The next chapter is maybe shorter but something BIG will happen!

**R&R or Jade will cry in his grave!**


	20. Seeing Red

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 20. Seeing red

Yay, The first snow came! The autumn sure was short... And this chapter is so frigging short too.

You're so going to hate me because of this... -Ready to run away- And... Let's just say that I was angry and tired when I wrote this... But you should listen 'Liar Liar (Burn in Hell) by The Used while reading this. Man, that song helped a lot! And the fights what I have with my sister too... XD I just love this chapter! I seriously grinned and laughed while writing this! Sooo much drama and Angst!

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

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"_Because... I-"_

_-Luke _

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It has been two weeks. Two frigging weeks since Dist 'kidnapped' Luke. And the red-headed replica still hadn't waken up. It made Asch angry and worried, even though he never admitted that. Every time he looked at his bed where the dreck was sleeping, he felt ashamed. Because of him, the dreck was in that condition. If he had only thought straightly, he would have saved his replica.

Asch was reading one of his books, sitting on a chair but didn't concentrate on it. His eyes somehow always ended to stare at his replica.

"What the hell are you doing to me...?" Asch muttered to himself, turning a page. Almost every day, that other replica brat came to see Luke with Sync what had made Asch jealous. Jealous! Because of his stupid replica. But it wasn't the only thing what made him jealous. The other thing was the bond which Sync and Ion shared. Hell, Ion acted like somebody had glued him on Sync! And the other wasn't any better. Sync had just silently stood there as Ion hugged his arm! They made it look so easy...

Wait, _what_ exactly they made look easy?

Asch narrowed his eyes and glared at the pages. Every day, he would get more and more angrier because the feelings he had inside. He hadn't even slept and it was starting to show. He had black rings under his eyes and his face was paler than usual. And even if he would go to sleep, the floor was only option because the dreck was sleeping on the bed. And Asch had to admit it. How in the Daath's name the dreck manage to sleep on the floor without whining about it?! His back hurt like hell!

He growled slightly, turning the page so hard that the paper made a ripping sound.

"_There goes my favorite book..." _He thought, growing more angry every second. Then, after a couple of minutes, he tossed the book on the floor and grabbed his hair.

"What the hell is wrong with me?!" He yelled. He had kept his feelings inside of him too long and now they all were going to explode. Asch felt like banging his head on the table. He glared at his bed where his replica was sleeping, watching as the dreck slowly opened his eyes and...- Wait a sec.

...Opened his eyes?

"Dreck!?" Asch shouted, voice mixed with anger and surprise. And of course, worry, but he never admitted that. He quickly rose and walked to the dreck.

"...Asch?" The red-haired replica whispered, rubbing his eyes. He stood up, sitting on edge of the bed, looking at it.

"Am I sleeping on your bed?!" He asked, staring at the bed and making Asch even more angrier.

"_That's what he thinks first?! Oh I just want to... to..." _Asch's eye twitched. "...Yes and before you ask, I have been sleeping on a frigging floor two weeks!" He snapped, crossing his arms.

"Two weeks? How long have I been sleeping? " The dreck asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Isn't t oblivious?! Two weeks!"

The dreck gasped, staring at Asch. "T-Two weeks?! Is it even possible to sleep that long?!" He asked. "W-Wait, where is that golden person?!"

"Golden person...?" Asch repeated. Did those drugs or whatever Dist gave to him damage the dreck's brains?

"Yes! That figure who flied on me and-" Luke started but after glancing at Asch's face, he knew that his original didn't believe him.

"Err... How did I get here? All I remember was that Dist kidnapped me and- Oh wait! What happened to Tear?!" The dreck gasped worriedly.

"...Tear?" Asch repeated. Has the dreck finally lost his last brain cells?

"Yeah! She is Master Van's sister! She was in that jail where I was too!" The dreck explained, moving his hands as he spoke.

"... Van never said that he has a sister." Asch rose his eyebrow. _"Should I be worried or not?"_ He added in his thoughts.

"But she said that she is! And why would she lie!?" The dreck fought back., using an annoying whiny voice. And made Asch even more angry.

"Why should I know! Maybe she is just stupid little slut who-"

"Don't talk about her like that! You don't even know her-"

"How can I know somebody who only exist in **your** head?!"

"B-But I saw her! She couldn't speak and I felt so sorry for her and-"

"JUST SHUT UP, WILL YOU?!" Asch yelled, slamming his fist into the nearest thing.

Which happened to be the mirror. With aloud crash, the shards of the mirror flew everywhere. The red-haired replica stared in shock at his original. Asch's hand was covered with blood and glass and the shards had made many scratches around his face and where bleeding.

"A-Asch what the-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU FEEL FOR HER JUST SHUT UP!" Asch kept shouting, ignoring the pain in his hand. The angriness inside him was like a volcano. It waited to explode. But anger wasn't the only feeling what he felt.

He was feeling jealous.

This... Tear person was making him jealous. The dreck was speaking about her with such a concern. And it made Asch jealous. And that stupid feeling made Asch angry. Before the dreck came, Asch had been calm and never showed his feelings. He was a soldier! Soldiers don't show their emotions! But then this... Idiot came into pictures! And look at him now! He was shouting and let his feelings take the control!

Pathetic, isn't it?

"A-Asch your hand!" The dreck gasped, pointing at the bleeding hand. But Asch didn't care. He was glaring at the dreck.

"Whatever." He muttered.

"Asch, what the hell is wrong with you!? First you shout at me without any reason and then you slammed your fist into the mirror!? Have you lost your mind?!" The dreck was getting angry. Good, Asch wanted someone to shout.

"Yes! Yes I have, thanks to you! What the hell have you done to me!? You pathetic excuse for a human being! Oh wait, you are not even a real human!" Asch knew he was sinking low but he couldn't help it. He just wanted to see the dreck's hurt face.

"That doesn't have anything to do with this!" Luke shouted back, feeling hurt inside.

"Yes it has! Because if you weren't born, I would live happily with my family and fiancée and my house! But then you took it all! With a blink of an eye, I had nothing and you had everything! **I hate you so much**!" Asch knew that he didn't mean those things but he didn't care. He just glared at the dreck, not even feeling guilty.

"I hope that you wouldn't even exist!" He ended his speech, looking at the dreck's face. But he couldn't see his eyes because his bangs covered them.

"I... I tried! I tried! I asked Dist to kill me! So could get your fucking life back! I begged him to kill me! But did he!? No, even though I asked a simple thing! I just wanted this to end! I hate my stupid life! Father hated me and every day I listened how people said 'how I have changed'! Only Guy, mom and Master Van were kind to me! Even Natalia hated me! She said that I wasn't 'the real Luke' every time we met! **If you want your stupid life then take it!**" Luke shouted top of his lungs, taking a piece of glass on the floor and pointed with it at his heart. Asch stared at him with a shocked look. Was... That's the reason why the dreck wanted to kill himself?

Somehow, that grew Asch's anger.

"Y-You fucking idiot! Do you really think that I could waltz into my ex-life like that?! God knows what you have done! And even if you would kill yourself, it doesn't change the past!" Asch shouted, grabbing the glass piece from dreck's hands and tossed it away.

"Besides, why would you let get yourself killed anyway?! I-I have tried to kill you! I have almost _tortured_ you! Are you really that stupid?!" The question had bothered Asch a long time. The dreck's jaw dropped and first time in that day, he went silence.

"...Because.. I... I..." The replica muttered.

"Oh for the love of- JUST SPIT IT OUT!" Asch yelled.

"I...I..." The dreck hesitated.

"MORON, JUST SPIT IT OUT OR DO I HAVE TO DO IT MYSELF-"

"BECAUSE_**I LOVE YOU**_!"

The time stopped between them. The dreck clapped his hand on his mouth and stared fearfully at his original. Asch's eyes where wide as a dinner plate and his jaw hung open. They stared at each other a long time until Asch turned his back at his replica.

"You don't love me." He said with his most cold voice ever and left the room, leaving his heart-broken replica sobbing in the middle of shards of mirror.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Did you see that coming?

I told you that you'll hate me because of this! In the next chapter, we'll leave these two alone and check whats happening at Sync's and Ion's room!

**R&R BECAUSE I KNOW YOU WANT TO!**


	21. A lullaby and a Bet

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 21. A Lullaby and a Bet

I had a dream where I make out with a juice box! It had a tongue! A tongue!!

OH FUCKING YEAH! Over 100 reviews! Thank you everyone! You made me so happy!

The 'lyrics' what Ion sings are made by me so they suck. Actually, I wrote them when I was in my Swedish class... Behind the cover of my notebook where are. my other pictures... No wonder why I suck at Swedish... And I'm so sorry that this took so long. I had no inspiration and school almost killed me with its exams and I had a work-practicum and I had to work in a kindergarten. Man those two weeks were so great...

And I** hate** this chapter. -smile- Really hate it... It just some plotless fluff... Ugh.. I never thought that I would hate a chapter this much. I was so wrong. I wrote this a month but every time I tried to write, I could wrote only two or three words and that's it! I suck at writing fluff. Actually, I think this is the first time I tried to write fluff! Anyway, this chapter takes place at the same time as Luke woke up. And err... Some parts what you can see as SyncXArietta... But it's up to you!

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss!**

* * *

"_So... This is what they call love... What a stupid thing..."_

-Sync the Tempest

* * *

Sync was walking to his room. He had been in a mission which lasted four days. Good thing had been that he beat the crap out of monsters though not without a cost. His stomach was hurting like Hell. He had hoped that Ion had been with him. Not that he wanted Ion to get hurt, he just wanted to be with him. To protect him...

...What was he thinking!?

"I'm getting crazy..." Sync sighed to himself. All what he had done these days was daydreaming about the green-haired replica. But something in that weak replica made Sync to feel so special. Something what he hadn't felt since he lived with his 'father'.

"What the hell is wrong with me...?!" He kept muttering, just couple steps before reaching his room. The martial artist was just about to open he door when he heard someone singing... from his room.

"_It's the land of dreams;  
Where the people live in peace;  
Where the sun is always shining;  
Where the wind is gently blowing..."_

Sync stared at his door for a moment. It was obvious who was singing because the only person excluding Sync who would be in his room was Ion but...

That voice couldn't belong to a human! It was too... Innocent and pure to be a human creature's voice.

Slowly, Sync opened the door but didn't enter the room. He just stood there, staring at the source of the inhumanly voice.

"_There's no sadness  
Or even darkness..."_

A green-haired boy was sitting on Sync's bed singing his eyes closed and hugging his legs. He hadn't noticed Sync yet as he kept singing.

"_Remember it's the Land of Dreams...  
Where you go, when you fall in sleep."_

Sync walked slowly to the bed, to Ion but the boy hadn't still heard his steps.

"_In the Land of Dreams..." _Ion finished, opening his eyes slowly. When he noticed Sync, he gasped and almost fell from the bed but Sync was able to caught him before hitting the floor.

"I... Umm... I.." Ion stuttered, blushing brightly. And he wasn't the only one. Sync was blushing too, after noticing how perfectly the other fitted in his arms. But unlike Ion, he quickly recovered from it.

"...You can free me now..." Ion muttered, making the martial artist to release him. They both fell in silence, only voices were their breathing. Until Sync broke it, muttering something.

"Huh?" Ion asked.

"...I asked where you have learn that song?" Sync muttered, not looking into Ion's eyes.

"_He heard it?" _Ion thought, feeling embarrassed. "P-Pamela taught it..." The green-haired replica answered. "W-When Anise was just a baby she always cried at night. It took many hours to get her tosleep and then Pamela started sing a lullaby to her. I remember how I used to watch when she was singing it and I wanted to sing to her too. So Pamela taught me and then I was responsible for putting her to sleep... It kinda makes me feel comfortable. Pamela said that my voice was better than her´s but I disagree with her..."

"Your voice is beautiful..."

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing!"

Ion looked at the masked boy suspiciously. He was sure that Sync had said something. And besides that, the boy had acted weirdly since he showed his face. Sync had become so jumpy and quiet but he wasn't so angry anymore.

"Sync are you okay?" Ion asked slowly and worriedly.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." The other answered as they both fell in silence. What they both hated.

"Should we go to visit Luke and Asch?" Ion asked, looking at Sync after a long silence but Sync shook his head.

"No. You saw what kind of mood Asch was yesterday. He would maybe kill us." Said Sync, remembering that day. That original looked like he would kill somebody, especially Ion.

"Oh yeah..." Said Ion, looking at the ground. It was clear that the boy was worried about his red-headed friend. And he probably was scared too. Asch or Sync -who had some kind of impression what had happened- didn't tell him what happened in the basement. But Ion knew that something horrible, after seeing Luke's condition he had been so afraid that he couldn't sleep at night. And who could blame him? He had been 'kidnapped' and he still didn't know why.

And there was something else what he wondered. Every time he and Sync had visited the red-haired teens, Asch had looked at him strangely. Not glaring at him. He had looked at him with a sad and regretful expression. Sure they didn't have the best start -Asch still hadn't forgiven that slap even though it has been so long timea ago- but there was no reason to act like that.

"_Or maybe I'm just paranoid..." _Thought Ion. Suddenly, a loud growl came from his stomach and he blushed.

"Looks like someone is hungry." Sync taunted, grinning slightly, very slightly as the other replica nodded, his face red as a tomato. "Wait, I'll go and get some foo- ugh!" Sync stood up too fast as the pain from his stomach made him to bend over, falling on the floor.

"Sync!" Ion shouted. "Are you okay?" He asked, falling next to Sync.

"Y...Yeah... I'm fine..." He moaned in pain. "Those... stupid monsters..." Continued Sync as Ion helped him onto the bed.

"I... I go and get some help." Ion said, turning around to leave but a hand behind his grabbed his wrist.

"It's o-okay... I'm fine now..." Said Sync, panting little in pain. Ion looked at him, worred look in his eyes.

"No you're not! Now put that head of yours on the pillow and let me see your wound!" Ion suddenly said stubbornly. Sync obeyed, wondering where the green-haired replica had got that change of mood or courage all the sudden to talk to him like that. Him, Sync the Tempest, a criminal who had murdered more people and monsters that he remembered!

"_Yeah, like that has stopped him before..."_ Sync thought dryly as Ion was taking off his jacket. _"Now when I think of it, I have treated him differently and- wait a sec, what?!"_

...Taking off Sync's jacket?!

"What. Are. You. Doing!?" Sync snarled.

"Hold still so I can nurse the wound!" Ion ordered, not even blushing, as Sync started to squirm. Soon, Sync stopped eventually but not because Ion said so. Squirming while you're wounded is not the best thing to do if you want the pain to stop.

A five minutes later, Sync's trademark jacket was tossed on the floor and he was lying on the bed half-naked as Ion frozen after seeing huge and black and blue bruise which was even bleeding and covering half of Sync's chest and stomach.

"Oh god! This looks bad! Why didn't you tell me earlier! This must have hurt!" Ion muttered more to himself than to Sync as he rushed to the cabinet, taking a half of an apple gel from it and walking back to Sync again. The kinder replica practically crawled top of Sync and the martial artist could feel the other's warm breath.

"Eat." Ion said as he almost forced the red gel into Sync's mouth. Eventually, Sync ate it and felt how the pain started to vanish, leaving only a little tingle feeling. But Ion didn't move from his spot. They lied there again in silence before Sync opened his mouth.

"...You do realize our position?" Sync asked, voice filled with sarcasm and amusement. Ion blinked then slowly, his whole face started to resemble a tomato by its color as he let a tiny scream from his mouth before falling on the hard floor.

"I am so sorry Sync! I just... just... I'm sorry!" Stuttered Ion, standing up as a red as a tomato.

"Just forget it." Sync said, being thankful that he still had that mask covering his face so Ion didn't noticed the happy look in his eyes.

"I-I don't know w-why I did it! I-I just...-"

"Forget it." Sync sighed to Ions ranting.

"B-B-But-" Started Ion, only being rudely interrupted by the martial artist.

"Just shut up and _forget_ it. Anyway, could I get my jacket? Its pretty cold here." Sync couldn't help but smirk a little to Ion's even more red face as the replica picked up the black jacket and tossed it to Sync, still muttering some words like 'why did I do that?'.

"Well, now I can get some food for us." Sync stood up, leaving the room.

- - -

An hour later Sync was heading back to his room, holding a tray with full of food. And thinking. Thinking about a certain green-haired replica and that annoying feeling that he got every time he looked at or thought about that same replica.

"_What is it? I have never felt something so... strong. And...-" _Sync halted, frozen in the spot, remembering what Arietta had said to him five months ago.

"You gotta be shitting with me!" He said aloud, almost dropping the tray.

- - -

"_Mommy! Mommy where are you?!" A pink-haired girl shouted, panic filling her voice. She stood there for a while, listening the voices around. But the only voice in the middle of the forest was the flow voice of the river besides her. The girl sighed worriedly but kept shouting her 'Mommy'._

_But then finally, she gave up._

_The girl's knees gave up and she collapsed on the hard ground, hugging her plushie even harder than before._

"_Mommy..." She whispered sadly. She didn't notice two figures walking to her slowly._

"_Arietta why are you sitting there?" A boy's voice asked behind her. The girl, Arietta, didn't turn around, knowing who was there. But when something hit her back softly, she gasped, turning her head around and seeing a liger's head, a sight what would make the bravest man to shit their pants._

_But Arietta just looked at it before tossing the plushie away and hugging the liger._

"_Mommy!" She shouted happily. The huge liger purred softly._

"_Where you found Mommy?" Arietta asked from the boy, Sync, who shrugged._

"_From that cliff. You should keep it on a leash if you don't want to lose it." He said, pointing at the liger Queen and not thinking what he said. The pink-haired girl released the liger Queen from her grip, glaring at the boy, something what she almost never did._

"_How dare you talk something like that?!" She almost shouted._

"_What? It's a beast, an animal or a monster. You keep them on a leash or they'll attack you." Sync answered. Arietta just stared at him, eyes wide as a plate and the huge liger besides her was growling at Sync._

"_That thing is your pet Arietta and if you don't want to lose it, then-" A painful slap on his cheek interrupted Sync for his speech._

"_I said, how dare you speak something like that about someone I love!? I would never put my Mommy on a leash nor anybody! That's too cruel! Would you do something like that to somebody you love?!" Arietta practically shouted. Sync stared at her, his hand on his red cheek. But the last phrase made him blink, even though Arietta didn't see it._

"_I can't love. I'm just a piece of flesh. Nothing more." He said bluntly. And to his surprise, Arietta giggled._

"_Silly. Of course you can love! Even though you're a replica, you're still a human! You have a heart, right there." Arietta said, drawing a circle on Sync chest with her finger._

"_Listen... Let's make a bet! If you find someone who you'll love, you must buy a new plushie for me! And if you don't then... I'll... I'll take care of your missions for three weeks! You have a year to find your love!"_

"_...Whatever." Was the answer._

"_Great! Oh, and remember that if you fell in love, you can't stop thinking about her/him and you would gave up your life to save her/him. It's a strong feeling and makes you feel like your heart tries to get out of your chest!"_

_Sync kept nodding, not paying attention towards the girl and wondered two things._

_One, why girls got so much mood swings? And two, why in the Hell's name he was having an conversation about love with a girl who was raised by ligers?_

"_Well, we should keep moving. Mommy is starting to get impatient." Said Arietta and all three of them kept walking._

_- - -_

Many things where filling Sync's head while he walked closer towards his room.

"_It's impossible..." _He thought. _"Okay... Let's try this way. Do I think about him all the time... Kinda... Would I gave up my life to save his? Yeah... I probably would... The last one! Does my heart feels like it would bursts from my chest? Err... I think so... So this means that I... Oh for the love of fucking Lorelei..." _Sync stopped walking when the reality hit his face.

He was in love with Ion.

"...Holy cow." Was all he could say before walking closer and closer... To Ion.

"B-But it's impossible! I'm a replica. I'm not a real human. My heart is a fake. I can't love..." He muttered but in his mind, there was a nagging voice which he couldn't register in his mind.

He didn't mind that he was in love with an another guy. Actually, he disliked girls -expect Arietta- very much. When he lived on a street he had to do a lot of disgusting things with them. To him, girls were just sluts who cared only about money, sex and what they looked like. He knew that all girls weren't the same but hose girls from his past had left many disgusting memories in his mind.

And way too soon then he had liked, he was standing in front of door which leaded to his room. Taking a deep breath, he enter the room.

"...Ion?" He asked, looking around.

And there he was. Sleeping loudly on Sync's bed. And looking like an angel.

It took a while until Sync realized that he must look really stupid just holding a tray and staring at the other replica. Shaking his head, Sync took a step closer towards the sleeping angel. He put the tray on the floor sitting on the bed, carefully not to disturb Ion's sleep.

"I'm a replica. I can't love... I'm a replica. A tainted creature and worthless..." He kept muttering as the nagging voice just grew.

Then, while looking at Ion, he understood.

Ion was a replica. Just like him.

Ion. The sweet and caring boy Ion. Replica. Just like he was. A piece of flesh. Not a natural creature. A tainted... Having no reason to live... He was something what Sync hate. And they were clones from a same boy. They were the same. They were identical, twins, brothers.

If Sync deny his own existence, he would deny Ion's too.

"Damn it..." Sync whispered, he felt like killed something. "Fucking hell..." It was like he had just opened his eyes. What would he do now? He had tried to deny the truth. What he would do now?

Suddenly, Sync felt really stupid.

Even though Ion was a replica, he was still Ion. An innocent and stubborn Ion. Ion who loved his family and friends.

If Ion could love, so could Sync.

"I'm so stupid... So stupid... Forgive me Ion..." Sync whispered, kissing Ion's soft lips. It was an innocent and fast kiss. Ion, still sleeping, cuddled closer to Sync, smiling. Sync stared at him for a while before sighing again.

"So... This is what they call 'love'... What a stupid thing..." He said but he didn't mean it.

"_I wonder what he is dreaming of..." _He thought, taking an apple from the tray.

And humming a lullaby.

* * *

Yes... YES! Finally I finished it! -Dances- The flashback wasn't so bad but I hate everything else in it. And writing all that 'sleeping angel' stuff made me want to puke. Really, I feel uncomfortable to write something like that... -Sigh-

...Why all the semes get slapped by a girl/uke? I have no idea. Bitch slapping people is fun! Muahahaaa!

Next time on Shattered Mirror!: Asch is angry, Luke is emo and Ion is a hero! And something bad will happen! Oh boy, how our heroes are going to survive from this!?

Oh, and if you like Yu-Gi-Oh! Go to read my story _Abyss of Insanity: Dawn of Hope_! Especially if you like yaoi!

**Review even though it sucks. Pwetty please?**


	22. It's Red

**Shattered Mirror**

Chapter 22. It's red

Oh look, I haven't updated this for a half year... Wait a sec, WHAT? I do have a good explanation though. In the winter, my health started getting really bad, both mentally and physically. I found out I have coeliac disease. (Means I have this weird thing going on in my stomach and I can't eat wheat, rye or barley. And it's for a lifetime) This affected my juvenile diabetes in a bad way and caused a slight mental breakdown. Besides, my school drained my energy because I needed to raise my grades and I needed to get into a senior high school (and btw, I did it!). And I needed to do some hard decisions concerning my so-called-friends. And when my life started to get better, my old computer got a virus. And I lost everything. And then I needed to wait to get a new computer.

Enough being an emo and to the story! This chapter is short, sorry about that, but it's more like a 'I'm alive!' Chapter.

**I do not own Tales of the Abyss**

"_Bring it on ugly!"_

– _Asch the Bloody_

Asch shut the door with a loud bang and started walking away. He needed to forget. Forget that _thing_ in his room. That _thing_ had just broke some sacred rules.

Asch kept walking without thinking the destination.

First, that _thing_ had disobeyed him.

Asch narrowed his eyes and his hands clutched into fists, ignoring the stinging pain in his knuckles. He had suffered worse than this.

Second, that_ thing_ had made him broke his mirror. It was that _thing's_ fault that Asch hurt himself and broke it!

The blood fell onto the floor as Asch walked. His steps were long and fast. He just needed to get away. His vision was blurr and all he could see was red.

And thirdly, that_ thing_ had just lied to him.

Asch halted and because of fleeting craving, he punched the wall besides him with his wounded hand. The pain was unbelievable as his bloody knuckles hit the hard mass, leaving a slight crack on the surface of the wall.

"Like hell the dreck told the truth!" Asch muttered to himself, his voice dripping anger and disgust.

"_Who could fell in lo-, I'm not even going to say that word. For Lorelei's sake, I have done some bad things to him! I almost killed him! What kind of masochist my replica is? Did he try to manipulate me? Did he try to escape here by using me? Did he actually thought that I would believe that kind of bullshit?" _Asch thought.

"What kind of replica would even lo-LIKE his original! We are the same fucking person!" Asch said to no one. "The dreck must have been lying... Trying to anger me... And had succeeded on it." He kept confirming to himself. But still he couldn't wipe the picture of the dreck's face when he left. That heartbroken face...

"Dammit!" He punched the wall with his already injured hand for the last time, making the crack deeper, before continuing walking.

He tried to get rid of the nasty feeling in his chest.

0o0o0

There weren't many things what Luke disliked. Though when he had been younger he had acted like a snotty little brat and hated almost everything.. But ever since Guy came to the mansion he had tried to change. And now there was only a few things he hated.

And one of them was crying.

He hated tears. Hated them salty taste. How they make your eyes red. How they make you feel weak and powerless. How they humiliated you if you cried in front of somebody.

Luke's father never cried in front of him. That man had been strong. Luke remembered when he was a child and he had fell and gotten a big scratch on his knee. And the worst of all, the duke had seen how he had cried. And all what the man had done was glare down at him and say 'men don't cry'.

Luke was starting to realize how charming man his father was.

The replica sneered a little. He stared at the shards of the mirror on the floor. There was little blood too. Asch's blood.

A wave of worry waved over him. There might be shards in Asch's hand too. What if the wound gets an infection? It must be really painful...

"_Wait a sec, what?"_ Luke thought. Just a while ago, his so called original stomped out of the room without any explanations. It was Asch fault that he broke that stupid mirror. That bastard had started the fight without any good reasons! And Luke had offered Asch's old life to him and that idiot refused.

The anger inside Luke grew stronger.

That fucking moron was always such a drama queen! Always starting fights which most likely end up into a catastrophe! He acted like he knew everything but he had no social skills! Always complaining how Luke was useless. And when Luke told his feeling... Asch just ran away! He was a coward. Not Luke or somebody else. Asch the Bloody was a fucking coward.

Luke's breathing grew deeper. He felt like his heart would burst out. He had never been so angry. He bit his lip and soon felt the taste of blood in his mouth. He had enough!

Luke turned his head slowly at his left, the direction of the broken mirror. The many pieces of mirror shards reflected his face. His long and red hair covered his face.

The long red hair... Just like Asch's hair.

Something in Luke's head snapped as he let out a small growl as he took the closest shards from the floor. And the floor was soon covered by red.

0o0o0

Asch liked the red color. It was color of blood, hate, violence and anger. It fitted him perfectly. But there was couple things he didn't like in red.

It was also color of passion and love. That's why he also hated red color. Even now, the sun set was coloring the sky deep orange and red. Normal people would have watched the view in awe. But not Asch. Not now nor ever. He hated all kind of cliché things. Especially now.

But now he liked red color. As he slashed those moronic monsters. They were so stupid. They attacked him even though they knew that they couldn't win. They knew that this was their last thing they would do in this life. Those monsters have seen how Asch and the others practiced in these woods. Still they tried. How stupid.

But still, Asch envied their stubbornness.

Slash on right. The beast cried in pain and fell onto the ground. Thrust on left and the next monster did the same. A spell and the monster in front of him burned into a crisp, shrieking as its flesh started smell in Asch's nose. He however, didn't notice the monster behind him until the said beast howled angrily and lunged towards Asch.

"Bring it on ugly!" The red-head muttered, starting running too, never breaking the eye contact with the beast. He could see the determination and rage in its white eyes.

_BANG!_

The monster screamed as a bullet pierced its brains, falling on the ground a second later, dead. Asch stared at it until looked at the direction where the bullet came from. He wasn't surprised when he saw a blonde woman jumping off a small cliff near him and walking towards the red-head, her gun in her hand.

"What do you want?" Asch growled angrily. Legretta halted, clearly not expected that kind of attitude. She did regain quickly and came closer.

"Respect your elders Asch." She warned. "We have a meeting. Everybody else are in Van's office expect you so Van ordered me to fetch you." The woman's gaze landed onto the dead monsters. "You didn't have to torture them to death, you know. What on earth they did to you?" she wrinkled her nose as she noticed the still slightly burning monster behind Asch.

"Van's loyal little bitch, aren't you?" Asch said before thinking, ignoring the woman's question. She looked shocked for a quick moment before her blue eyes glared at the deep green eyes.

The old saying if the looks could kill came into Asch's mind but he quickly shook it off.

It was just too cliché. And he hated cliché.

"Well, aren't we suppose to go back?" The red-head asked slightly smugly. It was the first time in his life when he was able to shut the blonde woman.

He wasn't so sure should he be proud of that though. He knew his place and Legretta was in a higher rank than he. If she killed him in his sleep she would get away from it most likely.

The cold glare didn't disappear. "Let's go." Legretta said, her voice was like ice. Even Asch realized that he was on thin ice. This really wasn't the best day of his life.

Asch glanced over his shoulder as he followed the blonde soldier and felt a bang in his heart as he noticed the scene behind him. Five young monster cubs were howling over the four dead monster bodies he and Legretta had killed. The cubs were nudging the bodies with their small snouts and growling to wake up their parents. Asch now understood the reason behind the beasts determination. Those monsters must have tried to protect their children.

Asch turned to look back in front of him. "Pathetic..." He muttered too quietly to Legretta to hear. But he wasn't sure did he mean himself or the cubs.

0o0o0

Luke tossed the shard. It hit the floor with a loud 'crash' as it broke into many smaller pieces. He turned to look at his reflection again, panting.

His hair only reached his shoulders now. He had practically teared over half of his hair off. The teared hair looked like puddle of blood around Luke as he sat on the floor. He wasn't sure could his legs carry him when he was in a state like this. He wasn't still fully recovered from that coma state he had been.

A small smile formed on Luke's lips as he looked at his new look. He didn't look like Asch anymore. Not so much. Maybe it would make things easier between him and Asch if they didn't look so similar.

The hair would be such a small price if it made things easier. Even though many people had complimented his hair. It had such a unusual and pretty color, they said. Luke wasn't so sure did he like it.

Luke sighed as he ran his hand over his red-hair. _"I need to clean it little..."_ He thought and took another piece of the broken mirror. It was hard and eventually Luke cut a scratch on his neck. "Scissors would be a better choice." The red-head muttered as he touched the scratch, feeling blood dripping out if it and running down his neck.

Luke stared his fingers what he had touched the small wound. Couple drop of blood adorned his pale fingers. Luke didn't like red color because blood was red. Blood meant pain to him. And Luke wasn't fond of being in pain. He always tried to find a way to escape pain.

Even now he tried to escape the pain Asch had caused to him. But it was impossible.

"_I am so stupid!"_ Luke thought, full of hatred towards himself. Why he had to open his stupid mouth and say those stupid words? How he could face Asch now? Why he had to be so naive? Things would never be the same between them? What he had been thinking?

Many thoughts flied in Luke's head as he felt his eyelids becoming harder and harder. In the end, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

0o0o0

AN: FINALLY! At last I have finished this chapter! And by the way, I have news concerning my fic 'Luna Nova'. I'll change the genre from Romance/Drame to Romance/Humor. Why, you ask. Well... I had no idea how to end it and I really wanted to kill Jade, again. But them I had this fucking awesome idea and now I can't kill him! And I have other jokes to it. (Like Asch versus School Food. I'm gonna take the foods from my old school's menu so expect really disgusting things!) And how Jade met Guy. And all other things!

Sadly, I can't update for a while, going to my siblings again but I have a little teaser for the next chapter:

_Asch stared the scene in front of him as he fell on his knees. He could hear how others were coming closer to him._

"_Luke..." He whispered. _


	23. AN: I really to do this but

I think everybody already knows what I'm going to say. At first, I thought about writing only 'Discontinued' in the summary but I think you guys deserve an explanation.

So... to put it bluntly, I have lost interest in TotA totally. It was gone already when I wrote the last chapter and it was pure torture to write it. Besides, I haven't even played the game and all of my information comes from the manga, some gameplay videos, internet and fanfics. I still have no idea about half of the stuff. Even thought SM was an AU story, I still wanted to use some in game things.

And that's not all. I can't stand the first chapters. That OOC Sync at the beginning will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. And Luke. And Dist. And Arietta. And – well, you get the idea. I was young and naïve when I started writing Shattered Mirror. It has gone so many changes that you wouldn't believe it. The latest was when I decided the whole ending thing to be utterly ridiculous and tried to think ways to fix it. Sadly, it was already too late.

''As the Nightingale Sings'' and ''Luna Nova'' are also discontinued – which is something I really didn't want to do, since I love them both – especially AtNS –. But every time I open their files, I can only write couple words and nothing else. And I can't force myself writing them, since then the text would be absolutely horrible. However, if somebody wants to continue writing them (which I highly doubt), just PM me and I'll gladly accept. Hell, I can give you the list of things I was going to add if you want.

I really really hate to do this. But like I said earlier, I can't force myself to write. Besides, my life hasn't been all rainbows and flowers and I'm trying to turn next page on my life. And even if it sounds stupid and weird, especially SM reminds me of my old life. And it's horrible when I go to my e-mail and there's a message that somebody has alerted or favorite SM, AtNS or LN. Thank you for those by the way.

Anyways, even thought I have lost interest in TotA, it's not completely impossible that I won't write about it anymore. I have at least one idea which would be fun to write if I ever get myself to do it. I'll continue writing ToV fics probably – since I have actually played the game (PS3 ftw!)

Thank you for the reviews also, love you guys~ Btw, some of you might wonder why I didn't replied last time. Well... I kinda forgot to do that. Yeah, and I realized my mistake, I was too embarrassed to reply anymore...

See ya! Sorry about the mistakes btw. I was in a rush to write this.

Rag Doll-Kun


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